Planechase
by Lawrence Kinden
Summary: Dorothy Alice Wendy has always had more imagination than the Sisters of St. Bridget's orphanage approve of. They despise her reading and her dreaming, and they spank her when she's been especially clever. A Multiverse-Spanning, Crossover, Fanfiction Adventure! [Story Depicts Spanking]
1. St Bridget's, Part 1

Dor bit her lip nervously; Sister Mary Margaret loomed over her, lecturing in a scolding tone about the dangers of imagination and straying from God and encouraging others to do the same. She'd heard this lecture before. Sister Mary Margaret, headmistress of St. Bridget's Orphanage, was emphatic on staying true to God's will. For little orphan girls like Dor, God's will meant reading the stories of the Bible and eschewing the stories of Shakespeare; it meant keeping her head out of the clouds and her feet on a righteous path; it meant ignoring her imagination and focusing on reality.

"I said, are you paying attention?" Sister Mary Margaret demanded.

Dor jumped and nodded, though she hadn't been.

Sister Mary Margaret sighed and grumbled. "You must be a test directly from the Lord Himself. Never has a girl in my orphanage been so caught up in her own head. You will learn to respect the Lord, young lady, if I have to spank you every day to make sure of it."

"Oh, please, Sister Mary Margaret," Dor said. "I try to be good, I promise, but I can't help my dreams. They just happen."

Sister Mary Margaret took hold of Dor's shoulder firmly. "You can control your thoughts. You're just not trying hard enough."

"But, Sister—"

"Dorothy Alice Wendy!"

Dor winced. She hated it when Sister Mary Margaret used all three of her names like that. She loved her name. She thought it sounded fantastical and adventurous. It sounded like a trio of girls who actually visited far off lands rather than just imagining them. But when Sister Mary Margaret said her name in that tone of voice, it sounded shameful.

"That is enough!" Sister Mary Margaret pulled Dor to the far corner of the room where stood a thick, sturdy chair with a straight back and no arms. Dor knew this chair intimately. Every girl at St. Bridget's Orphanage knew the spanking chair. Dor knew it better than most. Sister Mary Margaret sat with a thump, her ample frame filling the broad, sturdy chair.

Dor knew better than to resist. Even so, she couldn't help but squirm as Sister Mary Margaret pulled her firmly to a thick thigh and forced her to bend over her broad lap. Dor put her palms flat on the floor to brace herself even as her tiptoes left the floor. Her vibrant red hair fell past her shoulder to lie in a braided crumple on the floor. She knew her pale, freckled cheeks were already flushing with embarrassment, her bright green eyes shining with unshed tears. For all that she was experienced in being spanked by Sister Mary Margaret in this very chair, Dor couldn't help but be embarrassed, couldn't help but cry, couldn't help but hate it.

Sister Mary Margaret hiked up Dor's skirts to bunch them on her back revealing her plain white drawers and her pale, skinny legs. She untied the knot at the small of Dor's back to loosen the drawers and pulled them down over her bottom, letting them fall to Dor's ankles where they promptly slipped off her feet and to the floor.

Dor gave a little sob.

"Yes, well, we'll have you crying for real in no time," Sister Mary Margaret said as she slapped Dor's thigh sharply.

Dor squeaked.

Sister Mary Margaret thought Dor carried on far too much during a spanking, that it didn't really hurt all that much, that the girl was playacting, but Dor couldn't help it. She had tried, many times, to moderate her reaction, and every time she failed.

Sister Mary Margaret was a thorough, efficient, and experienced spanker. She spanked Dor's bare bottom, alternating right, left, right, left, making Dor's whole body burn and squirm. Dor tried to bite back her tears but was, as usual, unsuccessful. Within moments she was sobbing, which seemed only to encourage Sister Mary Margaret to spank her harder. Dor wailed and apologized and promised, but Sister Mary Margaret had none of the mercy she so often preached in sermons. Dor was spanked soundly.

When it was done, Sister Mary Margaret deposited Dor upon her feet. "You'll get no supper tonight," she said. "For your caterwauling."

Dor sniffled and sobbed. "Oh, please, I haven't hadn't had anything since breakfast." She knew, immediately, that was the wrong thing to say. Sister Mary Margaret's gaze turned fearsome.

"Shall I fetch my cane, young lady?"

Dor's eyes went wide and she shook her head frantically. For all that she was commonly spanked by the sisters of St. Bridget's Orphanage, Dor had only ever twice been caned and it was such a miserable experience she did everything she could to avoid it.

"To bed with you," Sister Mary Margaret said.

Dor scurried off.

The orphans' bedroom was on the top floor of the orphanage, a single large room with several beds arranged in rows. It was empty for the moment, which Dor preferred given her still burning bottom and damp cheeks. She hurried to her bed and pulled a small trunk from under it that held her spare clothes. She pulled off her dress and chemise, realizing with cheek-burning humiliation she'd left her drawers in Sister Mary Margaret's study. She pulled on her nightgown and, with no one to hear her or tease her or chide her, sobbed into her pillow.

She should have known better. She should have known when Elmira Gulch asked her what sort of dreams she'd had, the girl hadn't really wanted to know. Elmira had only wanted to tease her, as the other orphans at St. Bridget so often did. She'd hoped, since Elmira was the newest arrival at St. Bridget's, things might be different. So, she'd told the other girl about the frozen town of Christmas on the world of Trenzalore and the old toymaker who defended it from monstrous aliens; she told her of the corn fields of Iowa and the spirits of long-dead ball players who came to play again; she told her of Narnia, a land filled with talking beasts ruled by four human children and watched over by a great lion.

Dor knew she had a tendency toward earnestness. She knew others thought her silly for it. Nonetheless she couldn't help but think the best of people, to assume they saw the same wonder in imagination she did, to assume the beauty of the world inspired wonder in them all.

But Elmira had laughed at her.

"That ought to be good for a trip to Old Mary's spanking chair," Elmira had said. Dor had pleaded with her, but it did no good. As she sobbed into her pillow, Dor sobbed as much for that deliberate betrayal as she did the throbbing burn radiating from her spanked bottom.

She woke briefly when the other girls filled the room with their chatter, coming to bed after dinner, but they didn't bother her and she didn't speak to them and soon she drifted to sleep again.

She awoke with a start in the middle of the night. The room was filled with the quiet breathing of sleeping orphan girls. The pain of the spanking was gone, though she ached faintly, like after a day of hard chores. She didn't know what had woken her. She thought it might have been her dream, but couldn't remember it. Her heart thudded painfully and she lay on her back in bed, staring at the dark ceiling above, taking slow, careful breaths in hopes the anxiety would pass. After several minutes more, the ache in her chest eased and her heart slowed to its normal pace. She closed her eyes and tried for several minutes to quiet her mind so she could return to sleep, but quieting her mind was a skill Dor was particularly bad at.

So, after several minutes more, she rose from bed and crept to the window at the far end of the room. It was the only window in the orphans' bedroom. It was large with leaded panes and an arched top. The orphans, or course, were strictly forbidden from opening the window and though Dor tried hard to follow the rules, to keep her bottom safe, for this one small freedom she flouted them.

But only at night when she was certain she'd not be caught.

She knew how to unlatch the window in just such a way as the metal would not scrape or clink. She knew how to open it, not too slowly so it would creak, but not too fast so it would squeak. She knew just how far to open it so she could slip her thin, pale frame through. All this she did with practiced ease and slipped onto the wood-shingled rooftop.

The angle of the roof was steep enough she had to be careful, but not so much she couldn't traverse it with careful steps. Dor closed the window behind her, leaving it open just enough she could open it again from the outside, then took her usual spot with her back to the brick wall of a chimney that ran to the sisters' quarters. It was warm through the fabric of her nightgown.

The night was cool with late summer chill and a hint of coming autumn. She smelled rain on the air and looked to the horizon where a smudge of cloud was lit faintly by a moon overhead and behind. She knew from experience, rain on the horizon could be upon her with deceptive celerity, so she kept her eyes on the distant clouds while her mind wandered.

She tried to remember what had awoken her. It wasn't the first time she'd been woken by a bad dream and she wasn't usually interested in remembering the scary ones, but it was rare she didn't remember one. No matter how she tried, it wouldn't come to her. He mind drifted to other dreams, dreams of benevolent monks who wielded swords of light against evil, dreams of a mermaid who'd fallen in love with a ship captain, dreams of soaring over mountain ranges on wings sprouting from her back. Her musing was interrupted by the squeak of the window. Someone had opened it too quickly

Dor yelped and looked to the window where an unfriendly face lit by indirect moonlight and cloaked in heavy moonshadow, sneered at her.

"What are you doing out here?" Elmira Gulch asked.

"Nothing," Dor said quickly.

"Oh, the sisters are going to be so mad. Old Mary will cane you for this. She'll probably do it in the refectory in front of everybody. Perhaps that'll spark you."

"No, please, you can't."

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, you weakling. Nobody tells me what I can and can't do."

Elmira was right. Amongst the orphans, even though new, she was unchallenged. But, despite her predicament, Dor was incensed and couldn't help but retort.

"Except the sisters. We all saw Sister Candice smack your bottom this morning." Though the light was dim, Dor could see Elmira's expression turn ugly and knew she'd let her mouth get her in trouble yet again.

"Maybe I'll lock you out on the roof and the let the storm deal with you," Elmira said.

Dor turned her attention to the horizon and chided herself. She'd meant to keep an eye on the storm, but while she'd been distracted in her own head, the storm had grown closer. She looked back to Elmira.

"No, please, I'm sorry." She stood and made for the window carefully even as Elmira started to close it. "Please, you can't," Dor said, raising her voice, hoping someone inside would hear. For all she would be in trouble, it would be better than being locked out.

She got to the window just before it closed and stuck her fingers in the crack to keep it open. The window closed on her fingers and pinched them hard. Dor yelped and Elmira snickered.

"Maybe if you say you're sorry, I won't break them."

"I'm sorry," Dor said quickly, pleadingly. "Really I am. Please."

Elmira snickered, keeping her voice pitched low. It oozed through the open window. "What was that, Dor? Say it again."

"I'm sorry," Dor repeated. "Please let me in. You can tell on me and I won't deny it. Please let me in." Dor pulled hard on the window and opened it several inches before Elmira pulled back. The metal frame pinched her fingers so hard she feared they'd be cut off.

"I'm not sure I heard you," Elmira said.

Dor groaned with fear and humiliation. She leaned back, grit her teeth, and jerked at the window. There was a moment of resistance and Dor despaired. Then the resistance was gone and the window swung open. Dor lost her grip on it and stumbled backward. The pitch of the roof was too much. She slipped, landing hard on her back and slid down the roof. There was nothing to grab on to. She knew a moment of weightlessness, her body suspended upon nothing as she went over the edge.

Stunned, Dor couldn't scream; she could only stare at the fat, yellow moon overhead as rain scent and velvet clouds swallowed it whole. Her shoulders flared with pain, and her world exploded into mind-numbing, sense-shattering, body-crushing chaos.


	2. Equestria

The first thing Dor noticed was she wasn't dead. She was sore, she was shaken, but she was not dead. She spent several moments trying to determine how best to confirm her living status, as though breathing, hurting, and thinking weren't enough. Eventually, she decided to open her eyes.

Her gaze was met by a pair of large, deep purple eyes set in a delicate equine face covered with soft, lavender fur and topped with a spiral horn. It was a unicorn. Dor let out a high, sharp scream. The unicorn snorted in surprise and backed up several paces. Dor sat up and blinked her bleary eyes in an attempt to coax the truth from them. Despite her attempt, the purple unicorn remained.

"Where am I?" Dor said, even as she looked around.

Dor had never been in a forest before, but she'd read about them. This one was deep and dim. The trees had trunks bigger around than a man could have encircled with his arms. The leaves were broad and the canopy painted everything in a greenish grey light.

"This is the Everfree Forest," said the unicorn.

Dor blinked at the creature again, certain she was going mad. It was definitely a horse, though a small one, only about three and a half feet high at the shoulder, so a pony perhaps? Not that Dor knew a lot about the differences between horses and ponies. The unicorn had purple fur and a dark purple mane and tail shot through with a bright pink streak. She was definitely a unicorn and she had definitely spoken in English.

"Um, hello?" said Dor. "Are you talking to me?"

"You did ask me a question," said the unicorn.

"Yes. I suppose... I suppose I did. Um... I'm sorry, is this real? Are you really a talking purple unicorn?"

The purple unicorn cocked her head, "I am a unicorn, and my fur is purple, and I can definitely talk, so yes. Yes I am."

"Of course, my hallucination would say it exists," Dor said.

The unicorn laughed but not in a derisive way. Her laugh was high and cheery and genuine. "It sounds like you're having a tough day. Why don't we start over? My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?"

"Dor."

The unicorn's eyebrow quirked in question. "Door?"

"It's short for Dorothy. Actually, it's short for Dorothy Alice Wendy, but you can call me Dor."

"Nice to meet you, Dor. Next question: what are you?" The unicorn smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, that's rude, but you don't look like anypony I've ever seen or read about. And I've read a lot."

"That's all right. I'm a human."

"What's a human?"

"I am."

The unicorn laughed. "Right. Of course. Princess Celestia told me there were would be some unexpected phenomena on this assignment. I suppose you're one of those phenomena."

"I suppose so. Uh... who's Princess Celestia?"

"Are you serious? You're really not from Equestria, are you?"

Dor bit her lip and shook her head.

"Hmm." Twilight Sparkle cocked her head. "Well then, I guess you'll just have to come with me. I can't send you to Ponyville on your own; the Everfree Forest can be a bit treacherous. If you come with me, I can protect you and you can keep me company. What do you say?"

Dor smiled. She pushed herself to her feet and winced as the fingers of her right hand ached. She'd been so engrossed with meeting Twilight Sparkle that she'd forgotten Elmira Gulch had closed her fingers in the window. She stretched her fingers and clenched them. They were sore and bruised, but nothing seemed broken. She brushed dirt from her nightgown and nodded at the unicorn. Twilight Sparkle had been more friendly in five minutes than anyone Dor had known her whole llife. A real friend paired with an actual adventure was too much to pass up.

"You can explain to me about Equestria and I can explain to you about humans."

The unicorn smiled at her.

Twilight Sparkle led the way through the forest. Occasionally her horn would glow and she explained that Princess Celestia had sent her on a quest to retrieve an item causing something called 'planar ripples' across this region of Equestria. Planar ripples were magical in nature and Twilight Sparkle, being a unicorn especially attuned to magic, could use her magic to detect them.

Dor explained that where she came from humans were the only sapient species and that unicorns were creatures of myth and legend. She explained that yes humans typically wore clothes and they didn't have cutie marks and, until now, she would have said magic wasn't real. She explained that she was an orphan, that she had an overactive imagination, and that she loved to read.

"Me too," Twilight Sparkle enthused. "I live in Golden Oak library in Ponyville."

"You live in a library? How wonderful. There's a small library at St. Bridget's, but the sisters don't really encourage reading."

"Why have a library if they don't want you to read?"

Dor had never considered that, but Twilight was right. It was strange. "Huh. I don't know."

"Well, when we're done here, you can come and read as much as you like," Twilight Sparkle said.

Twilight Sparkle explained that Princess Celestia ruled over Equestria with her sister Princess Luna. She explained that there were three kinds of pony: unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. She explained that cutie marks manifested on a pony's flank as a coming of age, that they were unique, and displayed personality, talent, or proclivity. Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark, Dor noted, was a pink, six-pointed star surrounded by five, smaller, six-pointed stars. She supposed it represented magic. Dor rubbed her right hip with her bruised fingers through her thin nightgown. She wondered what her cutie mark might have been had she been born a pony on Equestria.

After hiking for nearly an hour, Dor was winded. She wished she'd had time to prepare of her impromptu adventure as bare feet and a nightgown made for poor hiking attire. Her feet were sore, her fingers ached, and she was beginning to think she wasn't cut out for this sort of thing.

Dor was about to ask Twilight Sparkle if they could rest for a while, when she caught a shadow slinking through the trees out of the corner of her eye. She stopped and looked, but saw nothing.

"Um... Twilight?"

"Hold still," Twilight whispered, voice urgent.

A trio of creatures stalked onto the path ahead of them. They looked like a kind of dog with dark brown, treebark-like hides. Their eyes glowed an unearthly green and they growled low and menacing.

Dor gasped, sore feet all but forgotten.

"Timberwolves! Stay behind me, Dor," Twilight Sparkle said.

Dor nodded and edged to the side so the purple unicorn was between her and the wolves.

"Listen up, you three. I'm on a mission for Princess Celestia. Stay back!" Twilight Sparkle said, her voice ringing through the forest. "I don't want to hurt you."

The lead timberwolf approached slowly while the other two spread out, flanking the unicorn and Dor from either side.

"I don't suppose secretly you're some kind of superhero or battle mage?" Twilight Sparkle said.

Dor swallowed hard. She often dreamed of being a hero, like Sherlock Holmes or Tarzan or Jane Eyre, but here, confronted with danger, she found she was nothing but a scared little girl in a nightgown.

The middle wolf leapt and Twilight Sparkle lowered her horn. A bright beam of purple light burst from it. The light struck the timberwolf on its wood-hide chest and knocked it away like a doll tossed across a room. It yelped piteously and Dor winced. The wolf on their right took the opportunity to dart in, its sharp teeth snapping. Twilight Sparkle pivoted and kicked out with her hind feet. The timberwolf tried to dodge back but was caught a glancing blow and stumbled away.

The third wolf lunged at Twilight Sparkle, and for a moment Dor thought the wolf would sink its terrible fangs into the unicorn's breast, but there was a crack of magic and the unicorn disappeared in a blink of light, reappearing several feet away.

Dor felt a tingle along her shoulders that flowed up her neck and coalesced at the base of her skull. She felt a fuzzy, expanding awareness that reminded her of the moment just before waking. It felt like something new, something learned.

Twilight Sparkle lowered her horn and another burst of energy slammed into the wolf, knocking it back, tumbling it over the forest floor.

For several moment, nothing happened.

Then Twilight Sparkle let out an explosive breath and shook herself, purple mane scattering wildly. Dor shivered.

Twilight Sparkle stood up straight. "Come on," she said, faintly breathless. "I think we're near the anomaly. Timberwolves are attracted to the scent of magic."

But the second wolf, the one Twilight had kicked, suddenly burst from the shadows. Dor reacted before she could stop herself. She snatched up a rock from the forest floor and flung it with all her might at the creature. With luck, she struck it upon its flank. Bits of bark-hide splintered. It grunted and staggered, surprised, turning its attention to Dor.

Twilight Sparkle pivoted and pointed her horn at the last wolf threateningly.

The wolf looked from Dor to Twilight and, with a growl of frustration, scampered away.

"Thank you," said Twilight Sparkle, still looking where the timberwolf had fled, cautious.

"I didn't do much," said Dor.

Twilight and Dor hurried through the forest, Twilight's horn pulsing with purple light faster as they grew near. After a few minutes more, Dor noticed a subtle shift in the woods. She didn't know much about woods or trees or nature in general, it was more like a feeling, a tingle at her shoulders told her something was different, something was new, something about the Everfree Forest had changed.

"Up there," Twilight whispered. "I can feel it. Its... foreign magic."

"Is it dangerous?" Dor asked.

"I don't know. Let's go find out." She shot Dor a grin and Dor grinned back.

In a hollow of a tree trunk, they found a silver diadem. The hollow was at head height for Dor, but Twilight had to go upon her hind feet and put her fore-hooves on the trunk to see in.

The diadem was silver with a bright blue, many-faceted gemstone at its center. On a silver chain, dangling from the central gemstone were two paler blue gemstones that would rest upon a wearer's forehead. Filigree supported a swirl of bright, clear diamonds on either side of the central stone. Inscribed upon the diadem was a phrase: _Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure_.

Dor reached for it without thinking.

"Don't touch it," said Twilight Sparkle. "It could be harmless, but you should always be careful with magical artifacts."

"Right," said Dor, pulling her hand back. "So, how do we retrieve it for your princess?"

"Like this." Twilight Sparkle's horn flared and purple magic enveloped the diadem and lifted it to hover just over the unicorn's right shoulder.

The sun set as they trekked back through the Everfree Forest. And though the shadows and sounds of a deep, dark forest at night were frightening, Dor had the bright light and warm company of Twilight Sparkle to keep her fear at bay. Twilight Sparkle told Dor all about her friends, cheerful Pinkie Pie and bashful Fluttershy; proud Rainbow Dash and elegant Rarity; down-to-earth Applejack and loyal Spike. She told Dor about their first adventure together, confronting the evil Nightmare Moon only to free her from her bondage to darkness, revealing she was Princess Luna, sister to Princess Celestia.

By the time the story was done, Dor could see the lights of a town ahead. A grateful wave of exhaustion overcame her. She hadn't had time to prepare for the unexpected journey. Her bare feet were scraped, bruised, and sore from trekking through the forest, and though she was used to long hours of hard chores at the orphanage, she was not used to walking all day or being attacked by wolves.

"Um, Twilight, I don't suppose I could stay with you this evening? I don't know how to get home and I don't have anywhere else to go."

"Of course," said Twilight Sparkle. "You just helped me on a quest assigned by Princess Celestia herself. You can stay with me, as long as you need to.

Dor blushed. "I didn't do all that much."

"You acted at just the right moment. More importantly, you kept me company, showing friendship to someone you'd just met" said Twilight Sparkle. "Come on, I'll introduce you to Spike. I told you about him, he's my dragon assistant; he lives with me in Golden Oak library. Then we can get a bite to eat and get some rest."

Dinner and bed sounded wonderful. Dor felt she might faint from the anticipation of the opportunity to rest.

They were just crossing from the Everfree Forest when, with a creek of ropes and a groan of timber, a great shadow descended upon them. Dor gasped and backed up several steps. Twilight snorted and reared in surprise. As it settled, Dor realized it was a hot air balloon. She'd seen one once, from a distance.

There was no one in the basket of the vehicle, so Dor presumed it was propelled by magic. Even in the darkness, she could tell it was brightly colored. The basket was upholstered in soft pink fabric, the balloon itself was purple and decorated with swirls and stars.

"Oh," said Twilight Sparkle. "This belongs to the princess." She approached the basket, Dor right behind her. A note was pinned to the side of the basket, and by the light of Twilight Sparkle's horn, they read it.

 _My dearest student, Twilight Sparkle,_

 _Please bring the object you have recovered to me at once. The object itself is not dangerous, but its existence upon this plane is disrupting the local magic. Please also invite the young planeswalker to come along. I would like to speak with her_

 _Sincerely,_

 _Princess Celestia_

Dor swallowed hard and her backside tingled unpleasantly. "Am I in trouble?"

"What? No, why would you be in trouble?"

"It's just that, when Sister Mary Margaret calls me to her study, that means I'm in trouble."

"Dorothy, you've done nothing wrong. If necessary, I would be happy to speak on your behalf."

A muted flash of pale green light caught their attention. Writing appeared upon the note in green light, slowly fading.

 _P.S._

 _There's dinner and blankets in the basket. I know you've had a long day._

"How nice," said Dor.

"The princess is quite thoughtful."

Dor pulled open the basket door and they climbed aboard. Suspended upon an array of poles was a metal cylinder. Once they were on board and the door secured, a gentle roar of flames erupted from the metal cylinder. Dor shrank back but relaxed when she realized the heat from the flame gave the balloon lift. The balloon took flight with a gentle sway and they were off, all without Twilight Sparkle or Dor having to do a thing.

"Magic," Dor whispered.

"Of course," said Twilight Sparkle.

"Even after everything that's happened today, I can hardly believe... it's just incredible."

There was a picnic basket filled with piping hot savory vegetable pie, fresh apples and carrots, and honeyed oat cakes. Folded neatly under the picnic basket was a pair of thick comforters.

They ate hungrily and the food was quickly gone.

"How long will it take to get there?" Dor asked.

"It generally takes a few hours," said Twilight Sparkle with a yawn. "We've got time for a nap." Her horn sparkled and the bright pink comforter unfurled and draped over her back as she settle to the floor.

Dor pulled the purple comforter over herself as she lay on her back. Dor stared up out of the basket past the edge of the balloon to the clear night sky beyond. She wasn't adept at astronomy. She couldn't have differentiated the stars of this world from her own, but she knew they must be different. She wondered if, out there somewhere in that star-spangled void, her own sun, her own world, drifted peacefully through the cosmos.

* * *

Dor had never woken in such a luxurious bed before. The mattress was soft and deep, the covers were thick and cool, the pillows were fluffy and numerous. She thought at first she must be dreaming, that at any moment her narrow, threadbare bed at St. Bridget's would appear beneath her. But after several moments of blinking away the sleep, she remembered the Everfree Forest, Twilight Sparkle, and the silver diadem. This, she realized, must be Canterlot and she was in the palace of the princesses.

She pushed the covers back and sat up only to realize she was not dressed. She had fallen off the roof of St. Bridget's clad only in her nightgown and though it had proven inadequate adventuring garb, it had, at least, been clothing. She blushed furiously even as she realized Twilight Sparkle had been naked the whole adventure, that perhaps it was common for the horse-like folk of Equestria, to go about naked all the time. After all, horses on her own world only wore what humans put on them.

As she cast her gaze about, Dor found her nightgown folded neatly on the end table. She pulled it on and noted it felt soft and clean and smelled faintly of citrus soap.

At a knock at her door, Dor shrank back but caught herself.

"I have to stop doing that," she whispered. "I can't flinch at everything. There's no reason to be afraid. Nobody here wants to hurt me, and if they do, I've got a magical unicorn on my side." She took a deep breath, trying to convince herself of her own words.

With another deep breath, to bolster her courage, Dor opened the door.

A horse stood on the other side. It was white with bright blue mane and tail and a stocky, squarish face, implying masculinity. Golden armor hid his cutie mark. He was taller than Twilight Sparkle, about four feet at the shoulder and had neither wings nor horn. This pony was clearly a royal guard.

The guard looked her up and down critically, then said, "You are Miss Dorothy?"

Dor swallowed hard and nodded. Despite her mental talking to, she couldn't help but be nervous.

"Princess Celestia will see you now. Follow me."

The halls of the palace were richly appointed, bright white walls and colorful stained-glass windows and a golden carpet. There were busts and statues of ponies with plaques, presumably to describe who they were and what they'd done. Dor didn't have a chance to examine any of it, though she'd have loved to learn more about this land of talking ponies. The royal guard set a brisk pace and she hurried to keep up. Eventually, they came to a large door adorned with a golden sunburst.

The earth pony lifted is front right hoof and knocked politely. After a moment, the door opened to reveal a library with floor to ceiling shelves. The pony entered and Dor followed. "Your Majesty, I present Miss Dorothy."

The pony who turned to face them was taller than the royal guard. At least five feet tall at the shoulder with a slim, regal bearing, Princess Celestia had bright white fur, horn, and wings, a sunburst cutie mark upon her flank. Her mane and tail, rippling in an unseen breeze, was like a sparkling, pastel rainbow. Her wide, kind eyes were deep purple. She wore a golden tiara and collar, both adorned with amethysts.

"Thank you, that will be all," said the princess.

The earth-pony bowed to Princess Celestia and left, closing the door behind him.

Dor swallowed hard. Twilight Sparkle had insisted she wasn't in trouble, but being alone with the princess certainly made her feel like she was in trouble.

"Oh, there you are," chirped Twilight Sparkle from somewhere to her right.

Dor looked around and found the purple unicorn carrying a stack of books with her purple magic. Dor sighed, relieved.

"Princess, this is Dorothy Alice Wendy. She helped me recover the diadem."

"Pleasure to meet you, Dorothy Alice Wendy. I am Princess Celestia."

Dor nodded and bowed, swallowing hard. "Yes, ma'am. You can call me Dor, if you want."

The princess chuckled. "How entirely appropriate. Come join me. I have a few questions and I imagine you have many more than that."

Bolstered by Twilight Sparkle's presence, Dor joined the princess. The table was dark and well-polished. In the center of the table rested the silver diadem.

"Dor, do you know what this is?" the princess asked.

Dor shook her head. "I mean, it's a diadem, a sort of crown. Kind of like you wear, but I've never seen one in person. I've read about them though. Certainly I've never seen this specific one before. But Twilight Sparkle said it's not from here."

The princess nodded. "Not only is it not from Equestria, it's not from this plane of existence."

"Ooh," said Twilight. "You're talking about the multiverse theory."

"Precisely," said the princess. "The multiverse theory says the plane of existence in which we reside is not the only one. Beyond our planet are stars and around some of them orbit other worlds. All of which exists within our plane of existence. With enough time and energy we could travel the space in between. But traveling between planes of existence is altogether different. Walking between planes requires a specific spark of magic. People who have that spark are called planeswalkers.

"Twilight tells me you come from another world, Dor. A world without magic."

Dor nodded. "At least, I think so. I'm pretty sure if magical talking horses existed in my world, I've have heard about it before now. Also, I think I dreamt of this place once. Is that possible, Your Majesty?"

The elegant winged unicorn shrugged. "Perhaps. As far as I know, nopony of Equestria was ever a planeswalker. Though luminaries like Star Swirl the Bearded theorized the existence of a multiverse, no one I've ever met or read claims to have experienced or confirmed it."

"Until now," said Twilight Sparkle.

Princess Celestia smiled. "Right. Until now."

"What about the diadem then?" Dor asked. "Was it brought here by a planeswalker?"

Princess Celestia shook her head. "I don't know. All I can say for certain is there was a strong magical disturbance when it arrived. Now, secure in my palace, the havoc it might have caused has been contained."

"If it was my fault, I'm really sorry," said Dor.

"Not at all," said the princess. "It seems to me you are caught up in magic and circumstance with which you are unfamiliar. I sense that you are honest and kind and I take you at your word."

Dor gave another sigh of relief.

"Now, if there is no magic on your world, I suspect you don't know how to get home. Is that correct?"

Dor nodded.

"I'm afraid I have matters of state to attend to, but Twilight Sparkle is my best student. She can help you."

"Me?" said Twilight with a blush that darkened her purple-furred cheeks. "But I don't know anything about traveling between planes of existence."

Princess Celestia smiled and nodded. "Do you remember our earliest lessons? The most basic of magic is driven by mental focus and metaphor, instinct and imagination."

Twilight Sparkle nodded. "I see." She turned to Dor. "I can walk you through the basics and maybe your instinct of planeswalking will kick in."

Dor nodded. "All right then."

Princess Celestia left them and Twilight Sparkle led Dor to the back of the library and a small room with bare wooden floor and walls and with no furniture. When Twilight closed the door behind them, the room was dim, quiet, and close. Twilight settled herself on the floor, crossing her front hooves. Dor likewise sat cross-legged, facing the unicorn.

It was close and comfortable. Dor felt more comfortable in this world of talking ponies than she ever had at St. Bridget's. For all that the adventure had been unexpected and scary, Dor would rather go on a hundred more than return to the orphanage.

"Twilight? I... Would it maybe be all right if I didn't learn to planeswalk?"

Twilight Sparkle gave her a quizzical look. "Why? Think of all the amazing places you could go and people you could meet and books you could read."

Dor nodded. "It's just... I don't want to go back."

"You don't want to go home?"

Dor shook her head. "The orphanage isn't really home. Not the way you read about in books. Sister Mary Margaret is... unkind." Dor blushed.

"Well of course you don't have to go back if you don't want to. You can stay as long as you like. But you need to learn to use your magic. If you don't, it will leak out of you, uncontrolled, and that can be dangerous."

Dor nodded. "All right then."

Twilight Sparkle smiled at her. "Let's get started. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes, clear your mind, and focus. It's common for those new to magic to take weeks, months even, to learn to take hold of their magic, so there's no pressure to learn it on the first try. Take a deep... breath..."

Dor did as the unicorn told her, closing her eyes and taking deep, even, breaths.

"The basics of magic use are about mental focus and imagination. Now, imagine a room in your mind, a safe place, a personal place, a place only you can access."

Twilight Sparkle's voice was soothing, like a cool drink on a hot day. Dor could feel the unicorn's power tingling along her shoulders. She could feel the unicorn's mind, bright and kind.

She imagined the room around them, wood-paneled walls, floor, and ceiling. Dim and quiet. No furniture. It was easy. Dor had always had a good imagination.

"Now, imagine a desk."

There were desks in the orphanage classroom, a wooden plane on rude wooden legs accompanied by a bench where a pair of orphans sat to take notes and do school work. The image came readily to the imagined room.

"Do you see it?"

"I do," Dor said, voice slurred.

"Very good. You have a strong imagination."

"Is that important?"

"Yes. Anyone with the potential for magic can learn the words and the calculations and be a perfectly serviceable mage. But magic is driven by metaphor, and the better the imagination, the more powerful and creative the magic."

Dor beamed.

"Now, I want you to imagine your magic. It can take whatever form you like, but it should be something important to you. Something with personal symbolism. Some see their magic as a bowl of water. Some see it as a blooming flower. I prefer..."

Dor knew what should symbolize her magic should. For all that the sisters didn't encourage reading, for all that she was spanked for her imagination, Dor always felt best when she was reading.

"... a book," Dor said at the same time Twilight Sparkle did.

And it appeared on the floor of the room in her mind, a book bound in deep brown leather. There was no title, no marking of any kind. Dor opened the book and a spark of light spilled into her. In a sudden rush she could feel a connection to... everything. The multiverse spread before her, around her, through and among her. It was tumbling, mind-shattering chaos, it was cool, soothing nothing. It was speckled with points of... planes of existence she supposed.

"Goodness," Twilight Sparkle murmured, "I've never seen..." Dor felt the unicorn mage looking through her like a telescope at the Blind Eternities and what might lie beyond.

The spark that lit the room in her mind filled her with confidence, tingling along her shoulders and she reached for the space beyond. It pulled at her suddenly, and before she was ready, Dor fell through.


	3. St Bridget's, Part 2

Dor gasped into her self and found she sat on the roof of the orphanage, her back to the brick wall of the chimney. It was midmorning, the sky clear, the sun bright. Dor took several moments to assure herself she was where she seemed to be.

"Is that it?" she whispered. "I'm right back where I started. Was it real?"

Her shoulders tingled and the tingle spread down her right arm to her hand and when she looked, she found she held a playing card. It was a rectangular piece of thick, flexible paper. Except it wasn't paper. It was too heavy to be paper, too smooth, too substantial to be a normal playing card. It felt both heavy and light, smooth and deep, pliable and magical. It was like nothing she'd ever seen before.

Displayed prominently upon the card, within a white border, was Twilight Sparkle, her whole body shimmering with magic, her horn glowing bright purple. At the top of the card was a title and below the art was a description:

* * *

 **Twilight's Blink** **W**

 **Tribal Sorcery – Unicorn Instant**

Exile target creature you control, then return that creature to the battlefield under your control.

* * *

She didn't understand it. She could read it, knew what all the words meant, but she felt she was missing context. Even so, her shoulders tingled and she knew one thing for certain.

"It's a magic spell," she whispered.

The sound of the girls of the orphanage up and about vibrated through the building. Dor realized, it being midmorning, and she having been gone for who knew how long, she was in some pretty serious trouble. She made her way carefully across the roof to the window and, to her dismay, found it closed and secured. She put her hands to either side of her face and peered in. She was both relieved and terrified to find Sister Ruth conducting her morning inspection of the orphans' bedroom. Any orphan who had not made her bed, had not tidied her spot, would be in for a spanking before lunch.

Swallowing her fear, Dor knocked firmly on the window.

Sister Ruth startled.

After several moments of shocked indecision, Sister Ruth hurried to the window and opened it, making way for Dor to climb in.

"So this is where you've been," Sister Ruth said, her scolding tone no less than Dor expected. "We thought you'd run away. Were you out on the roof for two days?"

Dor shook her head but didn't know how to explain.

Sister Ruth took her by the shoulder firmly and marched her across the orphan's bedroom. She smacked Dor's backside several times as they crossed, and Dor yelped and cried no matter that she tried to be brave.

"Please, Sister Ruth, I didn't mean to—"

"Didn't mean to? You've been hiding on the roof for two days. How could you have not meant to?"

Dor bit her tongue. She wanted to defend herself but knew it was futile, so she let Sister Ruth hurry her to Sister Mary Margaret's study without further comment except to cry out when Sister Ruth spanked her again.

Sister Ruth opened Sister Mary Margaret's door and entered without knocking. Sister Mary Margaret looked up, annoyed, and for a moment Dor thought Sister Ruth was about to find herself on the end of a tongue-lashing. But then Sister Mary Margaret's eyes lit upon Dor and went wide then turned firm.

"Where have you been, young lady?"

Dor took a breath to explain, but the explanation caught in her throat. How could she explain to Sister Mary Margaret about Equestria, Twilight Sparkle, the diadem, Princess Celestia, planeswalking, the multiverse... She couldn't. Not without confirming to Sister Mary Margaret that she was a flighty dreamer who couldn't stay on the righteous path.

Sister Mary Margaret slapped her palm against her desk. "Answer me, child!"

Dor sniffled and tears tracked down her cheeks. "Some of the other girls were teasing me. So I hid on the roof." It was an explanation sure to get her spanked, but she was going to get spanked anyway.

"On the roof? You climbed out the window against express instruction?"

Dor nodded and cried harder, pale cheeks flush. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"No it will not." Sister Mary Margaret emphasized each word with a slap at her desk. "Sister Ruth, fetch the cane from the cupboard."

"No!" said Dor, desperate. "Please, I meant no harm."

"Hold your tongue, child."

Dor didn't say anything as Sister Mary Margaret came out from around her desk and took her by the shoulder. She didn't say anything as Sister Ruth went to the cabinet in the corner and retrieved the long, pale yellow cane. She didn't say anything as Sister Mary Margaret pushed her down over the desk and pulled her nightgown up to her armpits, baring her.

"Your rebelliousness is an affront to this institution, to me, and to God. You will learn to behave and you will learn to obey. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sister," Dor said through her tears.

The cane whistled as it cut the air. Dor flinched before it struck her. She cried out, throat raw, as the line of fire marked her naked backside.

"A proper penitent submits herself to the chastisement of God," Sister Mary Margaret said, as she swung the cane and lit another stripe of fire.

Dor wailed.

"A proper penitent does not resist. She need not be held down and she does not cry out."

Sister Mary Margaret caned her again and Dor bit back a sob though she couldn't help but try to squirm out from under Sister Mary Margaret's heavy hand on her back.

"You will learn, child. You will learn if I must cane you daily!"

She brought the cane down again and Dor wailed. She felt her whole body was on fire and she could do nothing to put it out. She felt her mind was broken, her soul shattered. She felt each blow of the cane keenly, and though she knew Sister Mary Margaret wanted her to take it submissively, quietly, she couldn't help but try to escape, to make it stop.

Amid the broken, fiery chaos of her thoughts, there was but a pinpoint of soft light. A spark of pale purple magic. She clung to it. She brought it hard to her chest and tried to cover herself in it. Unbidden, the image of the room came to her mind, the room where, only minutes ago, she had sat with Twilight Sparkle, her friend. The room was dim and quiet. The book was not there, and Sister Mary Margaret's cane made sure Dor couldn't concentrate to summon it.

But that spark of magic reminded her of the card she'd held on the rooftop. She wondered what happened to it. Her nightgown had no pockets and she didn't remember setting it down. But clearly she no longer held it. And as she thought of it, the card appeared in her mind, laying upon the floor of the imaginary room: Twilight's Blink

Her mind filled with that spark, that magic. Her chest blossomed with it. Her skin vibrated with it. And in the next moment, the magic spilled from her and the mental playing card shone in her mind before disappearing in a shower of purple sparkles and a crack of magic.

Dor blinked and looked around herself. She was still in Sister Mary Margaret's study. Sister Ruth stood against one wall, hands covering her mouth, eyes wide with horror. Sister Mary Margaret stood at her desk, left hand braced upon it, right hand clutching the cane. She too stared at Dor, stunned.

"What was that?" Sister Mary Margaret hissed.

"What?" said Dor. "What happened?"

"Don't mock me, child. What did you do? Was that magic? Are you in league with the Devil?"

"I didn't do anything," said Dor.

"You're lying! You ran away to consort with demons, and you've come back with magic." Sister Mary Margaret brandished her cane like a sword. "Get out!" she screeched. "Get out demon, foul witch, devil's whore!"

In a blind panic, Dor backed to the study door, groped behind her for the handle, twisted it open, and fled.

She sprinted down the hall to the stairs and thumped down them, bumping into the wall with her shoulder where the stairs made a hairpin turn. She was nearly to the bottom ready to burst out the front doors and run away forever, when Elmira Gulch suddenly stood in her way. Dor came to a scrambling halt. Her reversal of momentum landed her hard on the stairs, her bottom aching from the blow atop her cane-stripes.

Elmira grinned at Dor evilly under her pointed nose, black eyes aglitter.

"So, you finally sparked, did you? What plane did you travel to?"

"What do you... how do you..."

"My master will want to see you now. Will you come quietly, or are you going to put up a fight?"

Dor scrambled to her feet and backed up the stairs as Elmira stalked up after her.

"I very much hope you'll put up a fight."

Dor turned and fled, Elmira's cackle chasing her up the stairs. At the top, she met Sister Mary Margaret coming down after her. The headmistress of St. Bridget's Orphanage was shocked when Dor came around the hairpin turn and charged up at her. She backed up, eyes wide, and Dor took the opportunity to squeeze past her, shouldering her aside when there wasn't enough room.

Sister Mary Margaret screeched as she toppled.

Dor sprinted down the hall to the next set of stairs leading to the orphans' bedroom. She passed other orphans on her way, girls she had known for years, but who she'd never made friends with. Dor was the weird one, the dreamy one, the one who was spanked for her imagination, and they all feared being caught up in her strange, impassioned, dreaming.

She hurried up the stairs to the attic bedroom. She could feel Elmira close on her heels. She slammed the bedroom door closed behind her. She knew it wouldn't stop the other girl for long, but maybe it'd be long enough. A desperate idea had caught hold of her and she just needed a little time.

Elmira screeched with rage that shook the building.

Dor ran to the window and wrenched it open, looking over her shoulder as she lost precious seconds.

The door opened with a bang, and Elmira Gulch stalked in, eyes glowing a furious orange, teeth bared in a manic grin. Elmira looked like a regular girl, but Dor got the sense there was more to her. She'd spoken of a master, she knew Dor had sparked, had planeswalked.

The window came unlatched and Dor pushed hard and threw herself over the sill onto the roof where she tumbled. She didn't try to gain her feet. She let herself tumble down the shingles, clamping her eyes shut, reaching through the room in her mind for that spark of power that would throw her between planes, back to Equestria and the only friend she'd ever made.


	4. Imagine a Vast Beach

The sand shifts constantly, moved by the tide and the wind, but also by creatures scurrying across or burrowing beneath. Subtler effects—compression, temperature change—also make their mark. Sometimes the grains cling together, weathering as a single stone until broken apart.

Now, imagine each grain of sand is its own plane of existence, and you begin to get a picture of how Dominia works. Dominia is a multiverse, a collection of universes. Usually, the inhabitants of a particular plane have no interaction with the other universes; they live out their lives believing that their home is the 'One World', that their universe is the 'One Universe'.

A small number of the multiverse's inhabitants, however, are fully aware of the existence of worlds, universes, planes of existence outside their own. They have learned to travel between planes and to tap their resources.

They're called planeswalkers.

The simplest form of planeswalking is to travel between touching planes, moving through the space between, the Blind Eternities. If two planes in Dominia touch, a planeswalker familiar with both can usually travel from anywhere on one to anywhere on the other. Of course, experienced planeswalkers can control where they arrive better than less experienced ones. A planeswalker can also travel between worlds that don't touch through experience, guidance, or luck. However, if the region is unfamiliar, or the paths between planes unstable, the planeswalker may travel astray.

Anything you can conceive of can be found in the multiverse—but it is as hard to find a specific plane as it is to find a specific grain of sand on an ever-shifting beach.


	5. New York City

Dor stumbled from the formless Blind Eternities onto a broad, smooth intersection of roadways. Massive towers surrounded her on all sides, buildings of stone and glass and metal. They stood silent and colossal, lit from within, under a dark, overcast sky. Dor turned slowly, taking it in. The towers were ten times as tall as any building she'd ever seen. Brightly painted metal carriages stood silent and waiting along the sides of the roadway. Metal poles stood at regular intervals, topped with glass cages, casting light upon the roadway. A cacophony of sound babbled about her, the sound of a city refusing to sleep.

It was like Asgard or Olympus, a great city of massive towers.

Dor wiped the tears from her cheeks with the heel of her hand. Her bottom still throbbed, but the fire of the stripes paled compared to the wonder of the city around her.

A scuffle and a grunt drew her attention from the grandeur of the city to a dim, dingy, alleyway on her left. Dor stepped up to the alleyway threshold and wrinkled her nose at the smell of damp rot.

"Hey, psst! Over here."

Dor peered into the dark of the alleyway and could just barely discern the outline of a person peeking from behind a large metal box in the indirect light of the streetlamps.

"Are they chasing you too?" the shadowy outline asked. It sounded like the voice of a girl. "The robots, are they chasing you?"

"The... the what?" Dor stammered.

"Come on. They'll see you out there."

Spurred by the fear in the other girl's voice, Dor hurried into the dark alley way.

"You're a mutant, right?" said the other girl. "I saw you appear out of thin air. Is that your power?"

"I don't really..." Dor trailed off.

"It's okay. I'm new to this too. I didn't know I was a mutant until just last week. Next thing I know I get home from school and there's a robot spider in my bedroom."

"Robot spider?" Dor didn't know what a robot was, but she wasn't fond of spiders.

"They're horrible, aren't they? I was only able to get away because my powers worked all of a sudden. First time they did something useful. What about you? Do you know how to control yours?"

Dor shook her head. "I was just starting to learn."

"I hear there's a place upstate. A sort of school where they teach mutants how to use their powers. That's where I'm gonna go."

Dor nodded. She didn't know where she was or who this girl was, but she understood having to run away from the only place that'd ever been home. After several moments of silence, Dor felt the other girl relax.

"I haven't seen any for a while. Maybe we lost 'em. My name's Jubilation Lee, but you can call me Jubilee if you want." Jubilee stuck her hand out.

"Dorothy Alice Wendy. People call me Dor." Dor took Jubilee's hand and they shook firmly.

A horseless carriage rolled to the entrance of their alleyway. Jubilee and Dor peered around their metal box to see it stop, blocking the way. Jubilee gasped and darted out of sight. Dor followed her lead just before a beam of light, bright as day, pierced the dim alley. Dor pressed her shoulders into the brick wall, hoping the metal box was enough to hide them.

"Police," Jubilee whispered.

Dor knew a moment of relief. The constabulary should be able to help them. "We can tell them about the spiders."

Jubilee grabbed her wrist. "No. They're with the Sentinel Services. You can't trust the police."

Dor shivered at the thought. The authorities were meant to help average folk. That here, in this world, Jubilee was afraid of them, mad Dor think she'd come to a terrifying world. She trusted Jubilee's caution and stayed hidden.

After a while the light shut off and the carriage rolled on.

"Come on," said Jubilee, "this way."

Dor let Jubilee lead her further down the alley and was quickly lost in the twists and turns. "Where are we going?"

"There's a bus station over here somewhere. I've got fifty bucks. That's enough for a ticket to Richford." She looked at Dor. "Do you have any money?"

Dor shook her head. "I am woefully unprepared for this misadventure."

Jubilee shrugged. "Well, twenty-five is enough for two tickets to Kingston."

"You'd take me with you?"

"Of course. Us muties gotta stick together."

"I'm sorry," said Dor. "But I'm not really from around here. What's a mutie?"

"You know, a mutant. People born different. Like us."

"Oh."

The walked in silence for a while. Dor's bare feet were sore and the hard pavement of this city was rough against them.

The creature dropped on them without warning.

It was many-legged with a spherical body and a piercing red eye of light. Its metal skin reflected what little light there was. Dor leapt with fright, arms tight to her chest. Jubilee yelped and stumbled back, but the spider snatched at her and caught her ankle. Jubilee fell to her knees, crying out. Dor reached for her and their hands closed over one another. Dor pulled at the other girl, but the metal spider's feet dug into the pavement, holding fast.

"Help me!" Jubilee cried.

Dor's heart hammered, her chest ached, her bottom throbbed from a spanking less than an hour gone and farther away than possible. It reminded her of the magic spell in the guise of a playing card. Twilight's Blink. The card sprang to mind and she could see it, heavy in her thoughts, as though she stood in a bare, quiet room without distraction. She took hold of it with mental fingers, shaking from fear and excitement, and she felt it respond.

Her shoulders tingled.

With a crack of magic, Dor and Jubilee teleported several feet away. Jubilee scrambled to her feet, clutching Dor close, breathing hard. The metal spider stumbled and whirred, its red-light eye spinning about to find them.

"Stay back!" Jubilee warned, thrusting one hand at the creature. Sparks danced along her fingertips, blue and yellow and pink, tiny explosions lighting the alleyway.

The metal spider sprang at them.

The sparks at Jubilee's fingertips leapt to meet it in a shower of bright lights and whistling explosions. The metal spider tumbled to the pavement in a cacophony, legs twisted. Its red-light eye sparked and winked out.

A tingle tickled the base of Dor's neck and the image of a white-bordered card flickered in her mind.

* * *

 **Jubilee's Dazzler** **1W**

 **Tribal Enchantment – Mutant Aura**

Flash

Enchant creature

Enchanted creature cannot attack, block, or activate abilities.

Vanishing 2 _(This permanent comes into play with two time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter from it. When the last is removed, sacrifice it.)_

* * *

"Wow," said Dor. She shivered and shook her head, blinking the afterimage of sparks from her vision.

Jubilee let go of Dor like she'd been burned. "I'm sorry, I didn't..."

Dor shook her head. "Don't be sorry. That was amazing."

"It was?"

"Of course. You're marvelous, Jubilee."

Jubilee swallowed hard, then gestured at the metal spider. "That won't last long, and there'll be more of them. We need to hide." Jubilee grabbed Dor's hand. "Come on, this way." She hurried them down the alleyway to a rusted metal door in the brick wall on their left. There was a handle and Jubilee tugged on it, but it didn't budge. "Shit," Jubilee muttered.

Dor blushed at the language but was impressed.

A screech and a whirr just behind them pierced the shadows and a blood-red light painted the wall in front of them, leaving their shadows in stark outline. Dor didn't need to turn to realize another metal spider had found them. In her moment of panic, Twilight's Blink flickered through her mind again. Before she could think to grab for it, with a crack of magic, they were on the other side of the door.

Jubilee yelped and spun around then gave a shaky sigh of relief. "Nice job, Dor."

Their victory was short lived. The metal spider pounded at the door hard enough to leave a dent as big around as a head.

"We have to hide," said Jubilee. Dor let the other girl lead her though the shadowy hallway. The floor under her feet was smooth and cold and dusty.

The metal spider continued to pound on the door, spurring them on.

"Do you know where you're going?" Dor asked.

"Just need to find a spot to hide. Hiding worked last time."

After several more twists and turns, they found what looked like an old office, with an L-shaped desk, a dusty chair, and a narrow door that looked like a closet.

Jubilee looked at Dor. "What do you think?"

Dor shrugged in the darkness. "No idea."

Two loud bangs in quick succession told them the large metal door they'd teleported past had been knocked off its hinges. Dor closed the office door while Jubilee opened the closet door. They hurried inside and closed the door. It was absolute darkness in the closet. Dor put her back to the closet wall and slid to sit, whimpering faintly. It hadn't been more than an hour since Sister Mary Margaret had beat her naked backside with that horrible cane, and though recent events had distracted her, it still hurt. Jubilee sat next to her and took hold of her arm. They tried to breathe silently, to make no movement.

After several minutes of straining to listen, they heard the clicking footsteps of the metal spider, slow and measured. Jubilee squeezed Dor's arm tighter as the footsteps approached, then eased off as the footsteps receded.

"Should we make a break for it?" Jubilee whispered, barely above a breath.

Dor shook her head. "What if it comes back?"

A few minutes later it did. The meticulous clinking footsteps approached and receded, approached and receded. Several minutes later they heard it on the floor above clicking away in monotonous rhythm, then again, then again.

Eventually Dor felt herself fighting to stay awake. Jubilee's grip on her arm had gone slack and her head rested on Dor's shoulder. When she could fight it no longer, Dor braced her feet against the door of the closet, rested her head on Jubilee's, and let sleep take her.

She jerked to when Jubilee whispered, "I think it's gone."

"How long have we been asleep?"

"No idea. I left my phone at home. I've heard Sentinel Services can track smartphones."

Dor blinked at that. "Your... phone? Like a telephone?" The orphanage didn't have a telephone, but she'd heard about them. They were rare, expensive, and had nothing to do with telling time.

"Yeah. You know, my smartphone?"

Dor shook her head. "When I told you I'm not from around here..." she hesitated a moment before reminding herself she was trusting Jubilee with her safety and vice versa. "I'm... I'm not from this world. This plane of existence."

"Really? Then why do you look human and speak English?"

"Oh. Um. Well, I am human. And English is spoken where I come from too."

"Where's that?"

"St. Bridget's Orphanage in Wakefield, Quebec."

"Quebec. Like in Canada?"

"You know about Canada?"

"Sure. We're in New York City. Do you know it?"

"Of course, but... but this city is so big and... and tall. It's like something out of a Jules Verne book."

"Oh. Maybe you're a time traveler. What year is it?"

"Nineteen-o'eight?"

Jubilee chuckled. "Try Twenty-fifteen."

Dor shook her head. She was over one-hundred years in the future. Was this her home plane? Perhaps she was on another version of Earth. "Well I definitely went to a world of talking horses before I came here," Dor said.

"Wait, what?"

Briefly Dor explained Equestria, Twilight Sparkle, and their little adventure.

"Wow. Really? You're... you're not just teasing me?"

"I would never do that," said Dor. "I mean, I'm all for making up stories and reveling in imagination, but not in a situation like this."

Several moments of silence stretched between them.

"What's it like, being an orphan in Canada a billion years ago?" Jubilee asked.

Dor hunched her shoulders. "Miserable. I mean, we're not starved, we're not slaves—I've heard that happens in some orphanages, but Sister Mary Margaret, the headmistress, she hates imagination and I've got more than enough for ten girls. She thinks everything I do is an affront to God, and she spanks really hard. She keeps a cane in the cupboard in her office."

Several more moments of silence filled the darkness. Dor felt Jubilee shift uncomfortably. She worried she'd shared too much, that Jubilee wasn't interested in her personal travails.

"How can anyone hate imagination? Imagination is the best," said Jubilee. She nudged Dor's shoulder companionably.

"I'm glad I met you, even though our circumstances are dire," Dor said.

"I'm glad I met you too."

"What about you?" asked Dor. "What was it like before the metal spiders came?"

Jubilee sniffled. "I'm an orphan too. I was put in the system when I was six and I've had thirteen foster homes since. There've been some good ones and some bad ones. Mr. Peterson, he spanked us pretty hard too. Used to pull my panties down. Mrs. Stockert was a bit of a slave driver. The most recent ones, the Bookcliffs, they were pretty good. No spankings, reasonable chores, helped me with my math homework, but I don't think it was going to work out."

"Why not?"

Jubilee shrugged. "Nobody wants to keep me."

"I'm sorry."

"It's no big deal," said Jubilee. "Once we find our way to the school upstate, everything will be better."

Another stretch of silence filled the space.

Dor's tummy grumbled audibly. Jubilee giggled, then her stomach rumbled to rival Dor's. For several moments they tried to control their giggles, at once amused and terrified. When they had their giggles under control, Jubilee shifted and shimmied until she pulled a crinkly object from her pocket.

"I've got a strawberry poptart. Do they have strawberry poptarts where you come from?"

Dor shook her head. "I know what a strawberry is, and I know what a tart is, but I get the impression this is something different."

"Here." Jubilee tore open the package and pressed an item into Dor's hand.

Letting hunger drive her, Dor bit into it. It had the consistency of a thick cake and was far sweeter than anything Dor had eaten before. It tasted vaguely of strawberries, but mostly of sweetness.

"What do you think?" said Jubilee around her mouthful.

"It certainly is different," said Dor. "Thank you for sharing your food with me."

"No problem."

Eventually, Dor said, "Do you think it's safe?"

Jubilee sighed. "It's that, or hide in this closet forever."

Quietly as they could, trepidation dogging their every step, the girls slipped from the office past the battered down door and into the alleyway. It was dark, but pre-dawn lightened the sky.

"So far, so good," Jubilee said. She looked around for a few moments, then pointed. "The bus station is that way. I think."

"Excellent. Let's make haste."

Before they'd taken a step, clicking metallic footsteps scurried over the side of a building only a few yards away. Metal spiders scampered down the wall, red-light eyes training on the girls.

"Shit," Jubilee muttered. "They were waiting for us."

"Run," Dor whispered.

Jubilee spun but took only a step before she put her back hard against Dor's. "We're surrounded. Can you teleport us again?"

Dor tried to focus, tried to reach for Twilight's Blink, for the room in her mind, but she was tired and scared and couldn't focus. She swallowed hard. "I don't think so. Can you blast them?" She felt Jubilee shake her head.

The spiders slowed, cautious. But there were dozens of them.

 _"Duck!"_

The voice shouted in their minds, and Dor flattened herself to the pavement before she could wonder who had shouted and whether or not to trust them. In the next moment, ruby light streaked through the darkness, cutting an arc through the metal spiders, knocking them back and breaking them apart.

 _"Get up, hurry."_

The mental voice was kind but firm, calm but insistent. Dor and Jubilee stood. They looked back the way they'd come and found their saviors. The man was tall and svelte, with wavy brown hair and a ruby red visor over his eyes. The woman was slim with long auburn hair. Both were clad in form-fitting, black uniforms.

 _"This way."_ The auburn woman gestured.

Dor looked at Jubilee who looked at her.

"What do we do?" Jubilee said.

"Well, at least they're not metal spiders."

Jubilee nodded. They sprinted for the pair in black.

The man pressed his finger to one ear and backed up several steps to look down a cross street. "Storm, this is Cyclops. We've got them, but there's sentinel activity. Can you meet us on a rooftop?"

Dor and Jubilee stopped in front of the auburn woman, breathing hard. The auburn woman knelt before them, smiling encouragingly. This close, Dor could see her dark uniform was detailed with blue at the waist and cuffs. A blue X inscribed in a circle stood prominently on her left breast. The man's uniform was similarly detailed in red.

"My name is Jean Grey," she said aloud in the same voice that had spoken into their minds. "Scott and I are with the X-Men. We can take you somewhere safe for mutants."

"You're from that school." Jubilee said.

Jean smiled and nodded.

Dor was uncertain. Jean seemed kind and she was grateful to be rescued, but she wasn't a mutant, at least she didn't think so, and she didn't know how the X-Men would react when they found out.

The man, Scott, stepped toward them. "Storm will meet us on the roof of that apartment building." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Come on."

Dor let Jean chivvy her along with Jubilee across a dark street to another alleyway. Scott pointed at a metal stairwell on the outside of the building a story and a half overhead

"Jean?" said Scott.

Jean looked up at the stairwell, putting one hand to the side of her head. A clank preceded a screech of metal as a ladder fell from the stairwell down the side of the building. It bounced with a clang but held firm to the brick wall.

Dor yelped and jumped back. Jubilee grabbed her hand and squeezed gently. "It's all right Dor. These are the people I was telling you about before."

Dor nodded.

"Jean, you first. Make sure the rooftop is clear. I'll guard the rear," Scott said.

Jean climbed the ladder until she reached the first landing and hurried up the stairs. Jubilee followed as soon as Scott nodded at her. Dor waited until Jubilee's feet were clear before following. She tried to make no noise, but the metal stairs made that nigh impossible. They bit her bare feet, but she refused to cry out. She breathed a sigh of relief after clambering onto the rooftop next to Jubilee.

Jean touched her finger to her ear. "Storm, we're here."

A wind kicked up, sending Dor's frazzled braids to swaying, her nightgown to flapping. She felt pressure from above and ducked instinctively.

The pre-dawn rooftop was lit with a burst of flickering orange fire. A javelin of fire arced suddenly toward them from the other side of the rooftop. Dor could only stare, eyes wide with fear, as the javelin streaked toward her from the other side of the rooftop, and a moment of disorientation rocked her as an image of a red-bordered playing card flickered in her mind.

* * *

 **Elmira's Flame Javelin** **2/R 2/R 2/R**

 **Elemental Sorcery – Fire Instant**

Flame Javelin deals 4 damage to target creature or player.

* * *

Then Jean was in front of her, hand outthrust, and the flame crashed against an invisible barrier.

"Dorothy! Surrender to me or I'll fry you and your friends!"

Dor gasped. Elmira Gulch strode from the darkness. She was still clad in her grey orphan dress, but her wavy brown hair was unbound and expression manic, eyes glowing orange. She gestured and a lash of fire leapt from her hand, flicking toward them like a whip. Dor cringed back even as Jean took a step forward.

* * *

 **Elmira's Fire Whip** **1R**

 **Elemental Enchantment – Fire Aura**

Enchant a creature you control

Enchanted creature has "T: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player."

Sacrifice Fire Whip: Fire Whip deals 2 damage to target creature or player.

* * *

"Whoever you are, back off." Jean took a steady stance and thrust her hands at Elmira.

Elmira stumbled, struck by an invisible force. She glowered and struck out with her fiery whip. Jean gestured and gasped when fire scattered across her invisible barrier.

"Hey!" Scott's shout drew Elmira's attention even as he let loose a beam of ruby light at the girl. Elmira dodged aside and the beam scarred the rooftop, scattering gravel. Elmira flung her hand at Scott and another javelin of flame streaked at him. He just managed to dodge aside.

Elmira laughed, high and manic. A second fiery lash erupted from her other hand. She swung her arms in an intricate pattern and advanced, driving the four of them to scatter. Small fires erupted upon the rooftop.

"Storm says she can get close enough!" Scott shouted.

Dor squinted through the heat and fire at the girl who had pursued her between planes. What did she want? How had she known Dor was a planeswalker? How had she known where to follow her?

"Wait!" Dor shouted. She stepped forward, one hand out to Elmira. "I'll go with you, just leave them alone."

The fiery lashes slowed, then stopped. Elmira smiled at her, expression distorted by the flicking of the fires in her hands.

"You want me, right?" Dor said. "Your master wants to see me?"

"Dor, no!" Jubilee shouted. She stepped next to Dor and took her hand. She pointed her other at Elmira.

Elmira smirked.

"You don't have to go with her," Jubilee said, voice cracking.

Dor squeezed her hand. "Jubilee, I've only just met you, but you're already one of the best friends I've ever had. Thank you for helping me." She pulled her hand from Jubilee's and stepped forward. The heat from Elmira's lashes made her wince. "You'll leave them be?"

Elmira shrugged. "Sure. They mean nothing to me."

Dor took several more steps until she was an arm's length from Elmira. "You'll have to show me how. I've only done it on accident."

Elmira smirked. She held out a hand and the fiery lash fell away to sparks.

Dor put her hand in Elmira's. It was hot, like a sunburn. Elmira gripped her tight, smiled, and took a deep breath. Her eyes glowed like coals.

Dor looked over her shoulder. Jean stood just behind Jubilee, hands on the younger girl's shoulders. Scott stood by Jean, expression grim. Jubilee had tears on her cheeks. Dor felt herself about to cry. Twice now she'd made friends on other worlds and twice she was leaving them just after having met them.

"Like this," said Elmira. She withdrew a small metal box with a circular blue button. She pressed it and a line of pale blue light pierced the space between them and the others. The line grew to about seven feet high, then appeared to rotate until it was a doorway.

The sight of it sparked that feeling along Dor's shoulders that was becoming familiar. She grabbed for it, but it slipped from her metaphorical grasp. Elmira pulled her to the door of light.

"If you hesitate, it'll only feel worse," Elmira said. She pulled Dor up beside her and put a hand on the middle of her back. Dor felt her tense to push. The tingle at her neck persisted. She grabbed for it again and felt the tingle spread across her shoulders and up her neck. She held it tight as Elmira pushed her through the doorway.


	6. Ivalice, Part 1

Dor gasped, a screech of fury echoing in her ears, as she stumbled from nowhere onto a muddy thoroughfare. A quick look around showed her she stood at a crossroads in a city of tents. People hurried about with the purpose of organized chaos. Most were clad in leather armor with metal plates sewn on. Some wore tabards displaying coats of arms. Dor had read about coats of arms, but she didn't recognize any.

A coterie of armored soldiers bearing pikes marched down the thoroughfare from her right, their yellow tabards stained with mud at their hems. They didn't look about to stop for her benefit, so Dor scrambled to make way, pulling her feet from the ankle-deep mud. She slipped, landing on her knees, but managed to crawl out of the way before she was trampled. She watched them pass, noting that not all were human, and not all were men. A hunch-backed hulk with a reptilian head marched near the center of the block. A man on her side of the block had leathery wings on his back and a serpentine tail. A tall woman at the back had long limbs and tall, upright ears.

"Are you one of my new girls? What are you doing out here?"

Before Dor could identify the speaker, she was grabbed by the arm and hauled out of the mud to her feet. The woman's grip was tight. Dor winced. The woman released her only to smack her backside. Dor yelped and stumbled away, both hands on her bottom, trying not to trip in the mud. She blinked away tears and glared at the woman who'd smacked her. The woman had her fists firmly on her hips, her plump lips in a firm line. Her soft-pink hair was held back in a loose braid. She wore a white robe hemmed with a red triangle pattern under a heavy, mud-spattered cloak. She looked young, early twenties at most.

"I gave explicit instructions you were to come straight to the healers' tent, not wander about in the soldier's barracks."

Dor shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't fib to me, girl, or I'll have your backside. I can feel the magic in you. You're my new apprentice. And just look at the state of you, mud-caked and in naught but a shift. Folks will think I'm derelict in my duty. I ought to spank you just for that."

Dor took a cautious step backward. It had been only a few days since her fingers had been bruised in the window, only several hours since her bottom had been marked by the cane, and only moments since her hand had been burned by Elmira's touch. She wasn't about to let this woman spank her.

The woman sighed. "Well, done's done. Come along, girl." She turned to leave, then looked over her shoulder. "Unless you'd like to join the camp followers? I hear some girls earn a coin or two warming soldiers' beds."

Dor felt herself blanch. She scampered after the woman, pulling her feet through the mud and making certain not to fall. They came to a large tent of mud-spattered white with that same repeating red triangle pattern around the bottom. The woman pulled aside the flap and waved Dor in. The tent was filled with two rows of beds on either side, one of which was occupied.

The woman came in after her, lifted the hem of her robe a kicked off a pair of muddy wooden clogs, revealing worn white slippers. She looked at Dor and pursed her lips.

"I can't have you tracking mud through my ward."

"Soldiers don't track in mud?" Dor asked before she could stop herself. She didn't like this woman's attitude.

"You're awfully fresh for an apprentice."

Dor bit her tongue on an apology. She didn't want to be timid, to flinch at everything, to do what she was told just because she was told. She felt a bit of confidence well in her chest. She tried not to scare it off with the thudding of her heart.

"Wait here. I'll fetch a robe."

The woman hustled to the end of the tent and through another flap. She reappeared a moment later with a robe and a towel. Dor cleaned the mud off her feet and hands as best she could with the towel. At the woman's direction, she pulled off her muddy nightgown and handed it over before donning the robe quickly, tying to minimize her nudity. Despite her cheeks burning with embarrassment, she appreciated the softness of the robe.

The woman folded Dor's nightgown and draped it over one arm. "They didn't send you with underpanties?"

Dor's blush burned harder. "I departed in a hurry." She wasn't inclined to trust this woman with her full story.

"I'll see what I can requisition. In the meantime, I've got a patient here who could use a dose of healing magic. Let's see what you can do, girl." Dor hunched in on herself, and the woman paused. "You can cast healing magic, can't you? I can feel it on you."

Dor shook her head. "It's... complicated. Maybe if you showed me first."

The woman gave her a funny look before leading her to a man with brown skin, tilted eyes, and a shaved bald head, reclining on a bed

"Minwu." He smiled at the woman in the white robe as he set aside the small book he'd been reading. "Have you brought me a visitor?"

"My new apprentice," the woman said. "She's... observing today." She gave Dor a look. "Are you paying attention?"

Dor nodded, though she didn't know how it worked.

The woman, Minwu, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and murmured quietly; a pale blue glow haloed her form. Dor felt the familiar tickle along her shoulders and at the base of her skull. The blue light faded from Minwu and emanated from the man on the bed, who sighed gently.

Dor watched him relax. In her mind flickered the image of a white-bordered playing card.

* * *

 **Minwu's Cura** **W**

 **Tribal Sorcery – Cleric Instant**

Prevent the next 5 damage that would be dealt to target creature, player, or planeswalker.

* * *

It was gone in a blink.

"That's better," the man said. "How long before I'm mission ready?"

Minwu frowned. "Are you so eager to get yourself injured again?"

He chuckled and shrugged. "There's no sitting on the sidelines in the War of the Lions."

Minwu looked at Dor and her frown deepened. Dor resisted the urge to shrink back. "You've seen what I can do. Now, are you going to show me what you can do?"

Dor bit her lip. She closed her eyes and imagined the room in her mind. It shook with the thumping of her heart. She tried to focus, to quiet her mind, but she could feel Minwu's judging glare. She grabbed the image with her mind and tried to hold it still, to remember what Twilight Sparkle had said about metaphor and imagination. It shook harder. With grit teeth, she tried to remember the white-bordered playing card that had just flickered through her mind. For a moment, she saw it, it flared, bright and clear, thick with magic and cool as a breeze. Minwu stood in the art of the card, serene and blue-haloed.

Dor felt the tingle in her shoulders and she pushed that tingle hard as she could through the card and into the man lying on the bed. The card shattered in her mind and the room clattered apart. Dor collapsed before she knew anything was wrong.

She came to when the large man lay her on one of the beds. She blinked and gasped, a sweat breaking upon her brow.

"By Ultima, what foolishness was that?" Minwu shouted.

"Easy," said the man. "You said she's new at this."

Dor blinked away the fuzziness from her vision. The man she'd healed was naked from the waist up, well-muscled, and handsome. He had a small smile on his face and held his hands up and out, as though trying to calm a skittish animal. Minwu was flush with fury.

"What happened?" Dor asked.

Minwu turned her angry glare on Dor. "You only have so much mana within you, girl. You can't use all of it or you'll kill yourself. Surely they taught you that in Mysidia?"

Objections scattered through Dor's tired brain: I've never been to Mysidia; I've had less than an hour of training; I already told you I don't know what you're talking about. But what she said was, "My name is Dorothy. Dor, if you like."

Minwu frowned harder.

Dor faded from consciousness.

When she was roused, her shoulders throbbed and her head ached but her other hurts: bruised fingers, burned hand, beaten backside, were gone. She sat up. The tent was dimly lit by a lantern at the far end. Minwu stood and hurried to her. There was no one else in the tent.

"You were sent her to assist me, not become a patient."

Dor bit her tongue.

"Can you stand?"

Dor swung her feet over the edge of the bed. She didn't feel dizzy, so she stood.

"Good." Minwu took her by the elbow and led her to the back flap of the tent. She gathered her lamp in the other hand and led them through the back flap. The backside of the healing ward was hard-packed earth, cold on Dor's bare feet, but at least it wasn't muddy. Minwu knelt before a small, personal tent only a few steps away, and held aside the flap before waving Dor in.

Dor crawled in and moved aside when Minwu came in after her.

"I requisitioned you a bedroll and an extra set of clothes." Minwu gestured at the neatly folded stack in the corner. Minwu's own bedroll was already unfurled. A small wooden chest stood at its foot. "You won't be issued your own tent, so we'll have to share."

"Thank you," said Dor.

"Don't thank me yet," said Minwu. She took a deep breath. "My master would have spanked me half a dozen times today if I behaved as you have, and I can't have it getting back to the commander that I can't control my apprentice."

Dor shrank in on herself. She wasn't who Minwu thought she was. But, for the moment, she felt safe. She didn't want to risk Minwu turning her away by admitting she wasn't her apprentice.

"This is my first command of a healing ward. I have to do a good job and I can't have you interfering with your ignorance," Minwu continued.

Dor swallowed hard, but she nodded. She reminded herself she was the veteran of many spankings, that there was no way Minwu could be harsher than Sister Mary Margaret. She reminded herself that though Minwu was preparing to spank her, she was also offering clean clothes and a place to sleep.

Minwu regarded Dor for several moments, head tilted, then cleared her throat.

"All right then. Lay out on your tummy."

Dor stretched out on the canvas floor of the tent. There was plenty of room for her short frame. She folded her arms and rested her forehead on them. Minwu knelt at her side. She put one hand on the small of Dor's back and rested the other lightly on her bottom. Dor shivered, but knew a moment of relief when she realized her spanking would not be bare bottom. Then Minwu pressed on Dor's back and Dor tensed as she felt Minwu shift her weight.

Ten crisp smacks later, Dor's bottom stung and her eyelashes were wet, but she was also tingly and warm.

"I expect better behavior going forward," Minwu said as she sat back.

After several moments, Dor pushed herself to her knees, wiped the tears from her cheeks, and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

They changed from their robes into their nightgowns in silence. Dor found her nightgown amongst the stacked laundry, still faintly damp. Minwu let her borrow a hairbrush after undoing her own braid, and helped Dor lay out her bedroll and thin pillow. Tucked in, it felt not unlike her bed at St. Bridget's, except her spanked bottom didn't ache. It stung to be sure but did not ache. The spanking hadn't felt good, but neither had it felt mean.

Minwu blew out the lamp and snuggled into her bedroll.

Dor stared at the sloped canvas ceiling of the tent while her eyes slowly grew used to the darkness. The sounds of camp going to bed murmured around them. There were probably soldiers on watch, officers developing strategies, and if Minwu was the only healer, as Dor had gotten the impression, they might be called on at any moment to tend wounds.

Her thoughts drifted.

She wondered about Jubilee and hoped she'd gotten away safely with Scott and Jean once she and Elmira had left. She thought about Twilight Sparkle and hoped the kind unicorn understood Dor hadn't left on purpose. She thought about Sister Mary Margaret and the girls under her care, and she wondered which of her fellow orphans had been spanked today, were going to bed with sore bottoms and sore throats and sore hearts.

She dreamed of the room in her mind; it was quiet and peaceful and stable. The dark wood paneling leant a cozy atmosphere. She knelt in the center of the room and at her knees was a book bound in dark brown leather. It was her book, she knew, and she opened it to reveal not paper, but a sheet of transparent material for which she had no name. It was smooth and cool. The sheet was made up of nine transparent pockets, the top three of which were filled, each with one of the playing cards she'd seen in her mind's eye: Twilight's Blink, Jubilee's Dazzler, and now Minwu's Cura.

"It's a spell book," she said aloud, her dream voice delighted, "a sort of grimoire."

She reached into the top right pocket, holding Minwu's Cura, and withdrew the playing card. It slid easily free. It felt warm and heavy in her hand. Thick and real but light and ephemeral. She could feel the healing of the magic and knew if she channeled that tingle she felt along her shoulders though the card, she could heal wounds. Now she knew, though, she had to be careful, and the thought made her ache as though she'd overused a new muscle.

She replaced the card and withdrew Jubilee's Dazzler. In the art of the card, Jubilee stood proud and confident in a black uniform much like Jean and Scott had worn. She wore a bright yellow jacket overtop and a pair of bright pink spectacles on her small nose. Sparks danced from her fingertips and a smirk decorated her expression.

After several moments of feeling its heft, she returned the card and withdrew Twilight's Blink, upon which the purple unicorn glowed brightly, confident in her power.

Light filled the small room in her mind, brightening the dim corners. Dor felt the multiverse open before her. She nearly reached for it, but stopped herself. Despite the spanking, or perhaps because of it, Minwu made her feel safe. She'd given Dor clothes, bedding, and a place to sleep. Dor had learned from her as she'd learned from Twilight Sparkle and Jubilee. And, so far, Elmira hadn't found her. If she knew what she was doing, if she could be certain she could get back to Equestira and Twilight Sparkle, Dor would have planeswalked in a moment. But it was still new to her. And while every plane she'd visited thus far had gravity and air and language similar to her own, she feared stumbling upon a plane with an uninhabitable environment. It would be better, she reasoned, to stay with Minwu and the stability she offered. For now anyway.

Dor woke to the patter of rain on canvas. She lay on her side. She made to get up when she realized a warm, comforting presence at her back. Reaching behind her, she found Minwu curled up behind her. Minwu stirred at the touch and rolled onto her back.

Dor got out of her bedroll, braided her hair and changed into the clothes Minwu had procured for her: chemise, brief shorts, socks, slippers, and a robe much like Minwu's but without the red triangles along the hem. She brushed and braided her hair in two braids, rolled up her bedroll, and was ready for the day when Minwu took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

Dor opened the tentflap on the gentle rain. She let it speckle her face while Minwu brushed and braided her hair and got dressed. They stepped lightly across the narrow way between their tent and the healing ward. Once inside, Minwu showed Dor around the cupboards at the back of the tent and the neatly ordered healing supplies therein.

"I don't suppose they taught you anything about practical healing in Mysida," Minwu said. Without waiting for a response, she explained the use of each item: bandages and ointments, herbs and tinctures, sutures and three vials of rare healing potions. "We haven't a chemist on staff anymore," Minwu said. "So these are only for dire emergencies. Understood?"

Dor nodded. "Yes, ma'am." Her gaze lit upon a staff leaning carelessly against the cupboards. Made of a pale yellow wood, it was slim and straight but for a half-circle crook at the top.

"What's that?" Dor asked.

Minwu gave Dor a piercing look. "Surely you've seen a mage's staff before. Don't white mages in Mysida use this kind of staff?"

Dor shrugged and bit her lip. She should have known better than to ask a question that would reveal her ignorance.

"I can't tell if you're being thick on purpose or if you really don't know," Minwu said, eyes narrowing.

Dor reflexively put a hand on her bottom.

Their conversation was interrupted by the man she'd healed yesterday pushing open the flap of the healing ward tent. He was clad in a dark blue vest and loose pants held with a black belt. A group of people hurried in behind him, tracking mud along the canvas floor, shouting in cacophony, dripping rain and blood. Injured soldiers helped each other to beds, those who could move under their own power. Three were carried on stretchers, unconscious. Some had bandages inexpertly wrapped around oozing wounds. One man had lost his right hand. The sudden chaos threw Dor into a panic and she pressed herself to the back canvas wall of the tent, trying to stay out of the way, trying to stay unnoticed.

Minwu stepped to the center of the room. She spoke with a firm, calm voice, directing patients to beds with sure gestures. She snapped her fingers at Dor without turning to look at her.

"Bandages and tincture, quickly."

Dor blinked for several stunned moments, uncertain what to do, afraid to be wrong.

Minwu snapped at her again and Dor hurried to the cupboards, opening doors until she found what she'd been sent for. She took them to Minwu who stood over a man still clad in thick leather armor, the one missing his right hand. Minwu undid the man's belt and pulled it though the loops with a swish. She cut away the straps holding the bracer to his forearm. She wrapped the belt around his arm, just below the elbow and tightened it, slowing the blood loss.

Dor handed over the bandages and tincture, and Minwu set to work. "The black mage needs immediate attention. Be careful with your mana this time," she said, words clipped.

"Who?" said Dor.

Without looking up from her work, Minwu grabbed Dor by the shoulder, turned her around and smacked her backside sharply.

Dor yelped and took a few hurried steps away before she realized Minwu had sent in the direction of a short man in a black jacket with brightly striped green and yellow pantaloons. Her bottom tingling, warmth flushing her, Dor hurried to the man's side.

He wasn't human, but a short, white-furred humanoid with cat-like ears and a furry sort of antenna growing from the top of his head. Dor didn't let herself get distracted by his ailenness. He was a person and he needed her help.

"Carefully," Dor told herself under the chaos of the room. She put her hands on the black mage's arm and took a deep breath, trying to focus. She reminded herself of Twilight Sparkle, who'd told her she had a good imagination, critical to magical talent. "You can do this."

The wood-paneled room eased into her mind's eye and she knelt at its center. She felt a tingle along her shoulders and rather than grasping for it, she took another deep breath, trying not to scare it off. The feeling intensified and the leather-bound book appeared on the floor at her knees. She opened it to reveal three playing cards in smooth, transparent sleeves. She put her fingers to the card in the upper right pocket: Minwu's Cura, and she let the tingle in her shoulders ease through the focus of the card. She felt the energy shape and take hold. She felt it focused by the spell, then she remembered the black mage's arm under her hands and she let Minwu's Cura heal his wounds.

When she opened her eyes, she gasped and heard the black mage do the same. He stirred and shifted and blinked at her, then smiled wanly.

"That's better, kupo. Thank you, miss." His voice was soft

Dor blushed. "Are you all right?"

The black mage nodded, though his eyes were sunken. "Well enough. I'm sure there are others who need your attention."

He was right.

At Minuw's direction, sometimes with a helpful swat, Dor scurried from patient to patient bringing ointments and bandages and sutures. Only occasionally did Minwu briefly glow blue and she did not direct Dor to use her powers again. In the course of three frenzied hours, they tended the wounded party and Dor grew inured to the sight of blood, the smell of it, the feel of it staining her clothes.

When the worst was over, two of them were dead. The man she'd healed yesterday returned to haul the bodies off. Dor didn't ask where he was taking them. When he came back, he carried a large ceramic decanter and a pair of small, ceramic mugs. He took them to the back of the tent and waved for Dor to follow him.

"Minwu hasn't cleared me for active duty," he said, handing Dor a mug of water. "I'm on porter duty for the time being."

Dor accepted the mug and drank quickly.

"I'm Li, by the way."

"Dor."

A grumble of thunder startled her and she jumped. Rain fell on the healing ward in a muted roar.

"Has it been raining long?" she asked.

"All day," said Li. "You were a bit busy to notice."

Minwu joined them and Li poured her a cup of water.

"I'm not putting you back on active duty without at least another week of observation," Minwu said.

Li nodded and handed her a mug of water with a gentle smile. "Yes, ma'am."

They stood at the back of the healing ward tent, letting the intensifying storm drown the restless shuffling of the wounded.

"You've done well today," Minwu said without looking at her. "This would have been harder on my own, Dorothy."

Dor flushed.

After several minutes, Minwu directed Dor to clean the floor of the tent, giving her a cake of soap from the supplies, a bucket to collect rainwater, and showing her how to heat it over a small brazier near their tent out back. Dor didn't mind the work, though she got wet in the rain and dirty from the cleaning. After an hour or so of working at it, she had the canvas floor clean of blood and mud except for where it had stained, which Minwu said was unavoidable. Just as she was putting away the soap and bucket, another group came into the healing tent.

Dor tensed, ready for another flurry of work, but none of them appeared to be injured. The woman in the lead wore a sky-blue tabard over well-worn platemail. She was accompanied by a pair of soldiers in that same blue tabard.

Minwu hurried up to her. "Commander."

The woman nodded at Minwu. "I see you've done your work well. We only lost two units."

Minwu bowed her head. "Their deaths weigh heavily."

"This is war, sister. I know you white mages take death hard, but it's unavoidable. I wanted you know the losses were acceptable, and your good work today was instrumental in that."

Dor felt her throat tighten and her chest clench. She thought she might be ill, but swallowed hard on the stinging bile at the bottom of her throat. She didn't want to have to clean the floor again.

Minwu bowed. "Yes, commander."

The commander's eyes lit upon Dor. Dor hunched her shoulders before she could stop herself.

"Who's this?"

"My new apprentice from Mysidia."

The commander looked to the man on her left. "Did we receive notice of incoming personnel?"

The man shook his head. "No, commander. But messages from the west have been spotty of late. I'll check when we get back to the command tend."

The commander grunted. "What's your name, girl?"

"Uh... Dorothy," she squeaked, wishing she could be more confident.

The commander grunted again. "Do you think me callous for considering the deaths of those two units acceptable?"

Dor flicked her glance to Minwu who pressed her plump lips tight. Dor cleared her throat nervously. Li put a hand on her arm and she glanced at him. His expression was inscrutable. For a moment more she considered how to respond, how uncertain she'd been even in telling the commander her own name. All her life had been spent wishing she could be more like the heroes she'd read about and now, in the last few days she'd walked between planes, learned to channel magic, and still she couldn't manage to stand up even for her own name. She took a deep breath and insisted on telling the truth.

"Yes, ma'am." Even just those two words were difficult. Her vision fuzzed with fear and her throat tightened on anything else she might have said. But the commander smiled.

"I admire your pluck, Dorothy. But understand this, I know the names of everyone in this camp. Every monk, every mage, every knight, every solider, every squire and cook and camp follower. All of them. I know where they come from, why they're here, and what they can do to help me do my part to win this war."

Dor swallowed hard.

"I feel each causality, each fatality, but I need you to understand that the survival of this nation depends on us winning the war, and us winning the war depends on each unit doing his or her job. And while it pains me, I will do what is necessary for the greater good, even if some must die for it."

Dor bit her lip and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Because their patients needed to be monitored, they had to keep watch throughout the night. Minwu offered to keep first watch. Dor accepted gratefully. Exhausted as she was, she was sure she wouldn't be able to stay up much longer. She crawled into their shared tent across the way, brushed out her hair, changed for bed, and was just about to snuggle into her bedroll when Minwu came in. Dor hunched her shoulders before she could remember not to.

"Are you going to spank me for talking back to the commander?" Dor asked.

Minwu gave her a curious look before shaking her head. "I would never spank you for telling the truth. I just wanted to say again that you did a good job today."

Dor blushed and smiled and felt warmth suffuse her. She climbed into her bedroll and Minwu tucked her in before she bent and kissed Dor's forehead. It was a quick peck and Dor might have convinced herself she'd imagined it except for the tingle lingering upon her skin.

Minwu cleared her throat. "Sleep well. I'll wake you for your shift at midnight."

Once Minwu left with the lantern, plunging the tent into darkness, Dor's mind lingered on the kiss. It almost seemed automatic, as though Minwu hadn't thought about what she was doing before she did it, an innocent act of affection

Dor blushed, pleased.


	7. Ivalice, Part 2

Minwu crawled into the tent. She hung the lamp on the hook and touched Dor's shoulder gently.

"It's midnight, Dorothy. Time for your watch."

Dor snuffled and yawned and stretched before sliding from her bedroll. Though it was far too early, she felt rested enough to get up and stand her watch.

"The patients are resting easy, except for Fynn. He's the archer who lost his hand. He doesn't seem to be able to sleep, so I gave him a draught to help him along. It should be a quiet second watch."

Dor nodded. "Do you need the lamp or can I take it with me?"

Minwu pulled her robe over her head. She wore a thin chemise much like the one she'd given Dor, and a pair of pale grey pantaloons that had likely been white once. She shucked off her pantaloons with a practiced ease leaving her in brief shorts that settled loosely on her wide hips. Dor blushed thinking how pretty the older woman was. She looked away before Minwu could catch her looking.

"Take it with you. And if anything dire happens, wake me immediately."

"Yes, ma'am."

Dor entered the healing ward. It was quiet and warm, though thick with the pain of the injured. She walked the length of the ward, looking at each patient in turn, making sure they were still breathing. She lingered at the man who'd lost his hand, Fynn, Minwu had called him. He slept, but his expression was pained. She lingered also at the non-human black mage, whose name she didn't know. He was looking better than the last time she'd seen him.

After completing her round of checks, she sat on the stool at the back of the ward and tried to figure out how she was gong to stay up until sunrise. She'd just decided she needed to do another round of checks when Li came in carrying a metal pot and two ceramic mugs. He sat on the floor beside her.

"I brought coffee," he said.

Dor had never had coffee before. It was a luxury. At the orphanage, only the sisters were allowed it. Even so, she accepted gratefully. The hot drink warmed her instantly and the pleasant buzz infused her, perking up her thoughts and giving her hope she might stand the watch without dozing off.

"So, how have your first couple days in Ivalice been?" Li said, tone nonchalant.

Dor paused, mug halfway to her lips. "What do you mean?"

Li shrugged. "Call it a hunch, but I don't think you're from around here. And I don't just mean you're not from Mysida."

Dor shrugged. "Today was awful. All that blood and the wounded... But at least here I'm not personally persecuted. Plus, I've been useful."

Li nodded. "Self-actualization is important."

They sipped at their coffee silently for a while.

"Li, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, little sister. What's on your mind?"

Dor blushed. She really wanted to ask about Minwu, but now she had the opportunity she hesitated. Instead she said, "What's the War of the Lions being fought over?"

"Ah. That is a difficult question. It depends on who you ask. According to Marquis Hillary, the family of Lord Oxbridge is abusing their authority over common folk. Marquis Hilary convinced Duke William Camford Taft to claim his niece the rightful heir of the Silver Throne of the Empire. Duke Oxbridge, whose son Donald had already been proclaimed heir to the aging Emperor Matius, objected. Duke Richard Oxbridge, Lion of the South, invaded the province of Marquis Pavel Hilary. Duke William Taft, Lion of the North came to his ally's defense. Various other landed nobles took sides. Emperor Matius seems willing to the let them settle who will succeed him in their own way."

"Oh. That seems... wasteful."

"Maybe so."

Dor knew the history of her world was filled with wars. She'd read about them. She'd read about the Hundred Years War, the Napoleonic wars, the American Revolution and Civil War. Each conflict had its cast of players, some who seemed heroic some who seemed villainous, but by the time she was finished reading them, she couldn't help but think all the fighting and killing never actually solved anyone's problems.

"So wars here are just as futile as back home," Dor said with a sigh.

Li shrugged. "I suppose that depends upon your outlook. Marquis Hilary is not related to Duke Taft's niece. He stands to gain little in this war. To hear him speak is to be convince of the rightness of his accusations against Duke Oxbridge."

"Were you convinced?" Dor asked.

Li nodded. "There's talk of a constitution of sorts. Of a grand experiment in electing leaders through popular vote." He shrugged again. "Maybe you're right. Maybe it is futile, but I do believe in what we're fighting for."

Dor considered. She wasn't from this land, Ivalice, he had called it, but her reading had convinced her that, though imperfect, democracy was a good form of government. Then she remembered that if the last few days had been any indication, she wouldn't be here in Ivalice much longer. Her actions, one way or another, would amount to little in this conflict.

Her thoughts drifted back to Minwu.

"There's something else on your mind," Li said.

"How do you know?"

"You've started to take a drink of that coffee twice now and twice forgotten to drink any."

Dor blushed and took a big swig. It had cooled, but was still tasty. She decided she liked coffee and hoped whatever plane she traveled to next had it.

"Do you think Minwu likes me?" Dor asked.

"Hmm. Why do you ask?"

"Well, yesterday..." Dor blushed but pressed on. "Yesterday when I... showed up, she was mad at me."

"Because she thinks you're her apprentice from Mysida and you didn't follow her instructions."

"Right. And then I might have talked back to her a couple times. Then I was... I suppose I was careless with my magic. When I healed you. And then... before bed... she spanked me." Dor blushed hard. "And it's most assuredly not the worst spanking I ever got, but still I didn't like it."

"I shouldn't think so, no."

"But it also... I don't know... It felt protective. And then, tonight she told me I did a good job then kissed my forehead."

"What was it like, where you were before?" Li asked.

"Terrible. I'm an orphan and Sister Mary Margaret doesn't like it when I speak my mind, or have an imagination, or just about anything else. She spanks very hard and never kissed my forehead."

Li nodded. "Minwu is compassionate and protective, but she also brooks no nonsense. I understand you're not who she thinks you are, but if she says you are her apprentice, she will protect you and guide you and discipline you. And I have no doubt she will do so lovingly, fairly, and firmly."

"Why? How well do you know her?"

"Well enough. We served under the same master in the Adamantine Temple near Samite Falls in the north. I as a monk and she as a white mage. She had a family when we were both still apprentices. Her parents were killed when Altair was sacked by the Lion of the South. Her little sister survived, but had little to offer the army. She served as apprentice quartermaster to the Samite Falls contingent on a mission when we were attacked by bandits. She refused to give up the key to the supply wagon and was killed.

Li's voice was gentle and quiet and Dor detected a note of affection.

"Have you told Minwu how you feel about her?"

Li cleared his throat and portioned the last of the coffee between their mugs. "We've had a... conversation. Even so, I'd appreciate if you kept that to yourself."

Dor nodded.

The rain persisted.

With only brief breaks for a hint at the sun, the next three days were dim, cloudy, and wet. Dor generally liked the rain. Back at the orphanage, when she wasn't occupied with lessons or chores, she'd sit next to a window and stare out at the rain from the comfort of indoors. She would watch the drops streak through the air and splash to the ground and run down the windows. She would imagine each drop of rain was its own little world on a journey to the Earth where it sank into the ground and became part of something new and different and extraordinary.

But this rain was persistent and soggy and miserable.

Dor worked at Mwinu's direction. When she was particularly slow or inattentive, Mwinu would smack her backside, but the sting didn't hurt, not really, and that bit of encouragement helped her learn quickly. By the end of the day, Dor could predict what Minwu would need before she asked for it. Between their combined magical efforts and Minwu's practical knowledge, by that afternoon most of their patients were up and about, released to their own tents.

Only three remained. Mogven, the moogle black mage whose broken ribs were still tender, Maria a human knight whose toes on her left foot had been smashed and needed delicate attention, and Fynn the elvan archer who'd lost his hand, who couldn't seem to shake an infection.

Dor was counting their supplies when a girl in wooden clogs came in, carrying a stack of folded sheets and tracking mud down the center of the tent. Dor looked at the trail of mud then turned a furious gaze on the girl, who quailed. Dor took a breath and bit her tongue on an angry reprisal.

"Next time, take your clogs off at the door," Dor said.

The girl blushed and looked down. "Yes, ma'am."

"What do you need?"

"I'm here to deliver and collect laundry. Mama says the healing tent always has a lot of laundry."

"You're Kimberly's daughter, right?" Minwu said from across the tent.

The girl looked at Minwu and nodded shyly.

"Help us strip the beds that aren't being used."

Dor took the stack of clean sheets from the girl, only slightly damp, and set them on the cupboards. Between the three of them the beds were stripped in quick order. Then Minwu brought a pair of what looked like bathrobes that opened in the front and belted closed with a cloth belt.

"Kimberly can get our personal laundry back to us by morning," Minwu said. "She's the best laundress in camp."

The rest of the day passed uneventfully.

After a meal of beans and rice in a light broth, brought to them by and shared with Li, Dor and Minwu went to bed. Li had arranged for himself and a couple others still waiting for active duty to take watch in the healing ward so Minwu and Dor could get a full night's rest.

With their clothes at the laundry, damp from the rain, and full from a plentiful dinner, Dor and Minwu slipped nude into their bedrolls naked shoulders only an inch apart. Dor had tried to avoid staring at Minwu's full breasts, large pink nipples, ample hips... She blushed and tingled trying so hard not to think on it, to let her mind wander.

* * *

Dor dreamed of the room in her mind. She knelt in its center, the brown leather book at her knees. She knew she was dreaming, but so far her dreams had been the easiest place to sit quietly in the imagined room, to summon the spell book, to examine the spells. In the heat of the moment, she still found her magic slippery to grasp.

She opened the book. The now familiar smooth, transparent material of the nine-pocket page sent a tingle up her fingertips as she ran them along its surface. She pulled Jubilee's Dazzler from its pocket. Her brief friend was depicted in a cocky pose, confident smirk, and the same kind of uniform Scott and Jean had been wearing. Dor hoped that meant Jubilee had gotten safely to the school.

The room in her mind warmed with the glow of the multiverse but she pulled back. She was safe with Minwu. It was nice to be somewhere she could do some good, to be appreciated. She did miss the books though. Even though the orphanage didn't encourage reading or imagination, at least there was a small library. Dor wondered if the camp had a library. She'd have to ask when she woke.

A tingle tickled across her shoulders, that feeling she'd come to associate with magic, with the mana within her, as Minwu had put it. She let it tingle on her shoulders, picking its way down her arms to the fingers of her right hand, holding the playing card. She felt the magic take shape as it approached, focused by the card. She pulled the magic back, slowly, then lit it trickle toward the card again, pulled it back, let it go, getting a taste for how the magic felt. The back and forth made her buzz with anticipation, holding the magic back, though it yearned to be released. Suddenly, with a wrench, the magic pulled from her grasp and launched through the mental playing card.

Dor was jerked from sleep by an explosive light and a booming crack. She sat up and looked around only to find her vision was filled with white. She called out to Minwu, but could not hear herself through the ringing. She panicked, grabbing her bedroll and pulling it tight to her.

A pale green light filled her vision, draining away a moment later, taking with it the impairments. Dor took a deep breath as her senses returned to normal. She stared at Minwu, wide-eyed. Minwu stared back, gaze stern, fists on ample hips, kneeling upon her bedroll.

Dor blushed. "I... I tried to..."

"What in the name of Ultima was that?" Mwinu's voice was low, barely above a whisper. "You're not my white mage apprentice, are you?"

Dor sniffled but couldn't stop tears tracking down her cheeks. "You... you just assumed..."

"Are you even from Mysida?"

Dor shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.

Someone tugged at the tentflap, but it was secured from the inside. "Minwu? What happened? Are you all right?" It was Li.

Minwu took a deep breath then turned to the tent flap and untied the straps. Dor pulled her bedroll to her chest to hide her nakedness. Minuw seemed unconcerned, her soft-pink hair doing nothing to hide her bare breasts.

"We're fine, Li. There was a magical accident, but I've handled it."

Dor heard Li clear his throat uncomfortably and mumble incoherently.

"Thank you, Li. Let me know if I'm needed in the ward." Minwu tied the tent flap closed without waiting for a response. She turned back to Dor.

Dor swallowed hard. "What now?"

Minwu crawled to her bedroll and sat on it, cross-legged. She opened her trunk and withdrew her hairbrush. Dor felt her skin tighten. "I concede I may have been hasty in my assumptions when we first met. But you've had plenty of time to tell me who you really are." She pulled her hair over one shoulder and pull the brush through it gently. "Did you tell Li?"

Dor nodded.

Minwu pointed her brush at Dor. "I should spank and turn you out. I trusted you and you lied to me. But... It's my own fault. I... I had a little sister. Sarah. Her hair was pink, like mine, but she put it in two braids, just like you. She had your pluck too. She was kind and shy, but her chin would jut when she was getting stubborn, just like you." She took a long, shaky breath. "Tell me who you are, please."

Dor unclenched her teeth. "My name is Dorothy Alice Wendy. I'm an orphan and I've run away from St. Bridget's in Wakefield, Quebec. And that's worlds away from here. Where I'm from, there is no magic, but several days ago I... I sparked and planeswalked to a world of talking horses." She told Minwu about her travels and about Elmira Gulch, who had pursued her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I tried at first, and then... I was useful to you and it's safe here, or safe enough anyway."

Dor glanced up at Minwu, blinking away tears. Minwu's expression was still hard.

"I... I didn't have a plan," Dor said. "I wasn't trying to take advantage. But I can't go back to the orphanage and I don't know what to do. I'm sorry Minwu." Her lip trembled and she couldn't stop it. She looked down again, clutching the bedroll tight and drawing in on herself. When Minwu sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, Dor leaned into her. She was soft and warm and Dor spent the next several moments crying into her embrace. After a while she shifted to lay across Minwu's lap, the white mage rubbing her back, combing her fingers through her hair, and humming gently.

Without looking up, Dor said, "Are you going to spank me?"

"Would it help?"

Dor shrugged. "Maybe. Did you use to spank Sarah?"

"Often."

"Sister Mary Margaret spanked us at the orphanage. She's mean and awful and horrible. But... but you're not those things. And I did lie to you..."

Minwu braided Dor's hair gently and set it aside before putting a hand on Dor's waist and one on her bottom. Dor wiggled, settling into Minwu's lap. Minwu patted her bottom gently, then a bit more firmly, then a bit more, and a bit more until she eased into a skin-stinging spanking that encouraged the last of Dor's tears free and unknotted the ache of fear in her chest.

They slipped into their bedrolls. Dor turned on her side and Minwu cuddled up close behind her.

* * *

Mogven was cleared to leave the healing ward the next day. He thanked them both and gave Dor a shy smile before leaving. Maria was cleared a couple days after that. Fynn's infection persisted, but eventually he too left the healing ward with explicit instructions from Minwu on how to clean and dress the lingering infection.

Dor and Minwu spent a quiet day organizing the healing ward while the rain dissipated and the sun made its first appearance in the week and a half since Dor had arrived. Li had been sent on a mission and Minwu was subdued.

They sat on the floor at the back of the tent.

"What is magic like for you?" Dor asked.

"An inner well of mana, like a bowl of water. I channel the mana through the spells I spent years learning and memorizing. Most white mages I've talked to describe it similarly. Most black mages talk about it like a candle flame. The more mana I channel into spells, the weaker I feel, as you learned firsthand. What's it like for you?"

"A tingle at my shoulders, and I channel it though the playing cards in the book in my mind."

"Playing cards?" Minwu quirked an eyebrow at her.

Dor nodded. "Sometimes when I see someone do something... magical I suppose, a playing card sort of... manifests in my mind. I watched Twilight Sparkle teleport a short distance when she was fighting off those wolf creatures. Same with Jubilee and those metal spiders, and you healing Li."

Minwu nodded faintly and Dor could almost see her taking mental notes.

"I don't really know how it works," Dor confessed. "Twilight Sparkle can fire a beam of magic from her horn and I watched Scott fire a beam of magic from his eyes, and neither of those actions turned into playing cards. I don't know when something I see will become something I can do. For that matter, I've seen you cast healing spells dozens of times now, and I only learned your healing spell that first time."

"I usually only cast a variation of the same spell: Cura. It is the most common spell a white mage casts. But, perhaps we can take a tour around camp. There's a training ground the black mages use. And if you set off one of those explosions again, I can show you the Heala spell."

Dor giggled. "Should I wait until you're asleep so it's more exciting?"

"Only if you really do want to feel that hairbrush on your bare backside."

The threat, Dor realized, didn't frighten her. Not only because she knew it was a joke, but because she knew if Minwu did spank her bare bottom with a hairbrush, she wouldn't do it meanly or without cause.

Their giggling was cut short by shouts outside. Even as they stood, a soldier wearing a blue tabard came in, supporting the commander Dor had talked back to several days before. The commander was barely moving under her own power and had suffered a deep, red wound low in her abdomen. Her armor was dented and rent at the site of the wound. The soldier in the blue tabard pulled the commander to one of the beds and tried to heave her onto it, but the commander suddenly went slack and they both fell.

While Minwu hurried to the commander's side, Dor hurried to the cupboard to fetch the tools she knew Minwu would want: tincture, ointment, bandages, suture, and she grabbed the three vials of healing potion, just in case. As she turned back, she found Li pulling the soldier away. They were arguing loudly, but the words were garbled to her, she was focused on Minwu. She hurried to the woman's side and set the supplies neatly in front of her.

"This is bad," Minwu said. "I can heal the wound but the armor is torn in such a way it will do little good. We have got to get it off her, but I fear doing so will cause enough shock it will kill her."

"If you don't do it, I'll die anyway, right?" The commander's voice was strained but steady.

Minwu nodded. "Yes, ma'am"

"Then do it."

Before the conversation had ended, Dor sprinted back to the cupboard to fetch a pair of large, sharp scissors and was back a moment later. Minwu cut the straps of the commander's armor. Dor watch the commander's face go pale as she grit her teeth and tried not to cry out.

"Dor, I need you to help me lift it straight it up."

Dor went around to the commander's other side and grabbed the edge of her breastplate.

"On three," said Minwu. She counted a slow, steady beat and they lifted together. The commander cried out, high and sharp and her breath gurgled. "Stop," said Mwinu. "Stop, stop. If we move it any more, I'm not sure magic will be enough." She picked up one of the potions and held it to the commander's lips. The commander swallowed though it pained her.

"I could teleport it off her," said Dor. "It won't move, not in the regular way."

"Are you sure?"

Dor bit her lip and shook her head. "No."

Mwinu considered a moment, then nodded.

Dor closed her eyes and pictured the room in her mind. It came readily. Despite the situation she felt calm, confident even. The book appeared in her hands and she opened it to the first page, and there in the top left was Twilight's Blink. She felt the tingle at her shoulders and as she touched the playing card that feeling shot down her arm and though the spell. With a crack of magic, Dor appeared a few feet away, the commander's rent and bloody breastplate in her hands. She tossed it aside and hurried back to the commander who gasped and shuddered.

Minwu glowed blue and the healing spell flowed into the commander who stilled and breathed evenly for a moment and then a second, and then her breathing stopped all together.

"Fetch my staff," Minwu said, voice tight.

Dor did as she was told, taking hold of the pale wooden item with its perfect half-circle crook. It was warm in her hands and tingled much the way her shoulders did. She carried it to Minwu who took it up without looking, settling it on her thighs.

"I'm might need you to catch me."

Dor didn't understand, but she knelt behind Minwu even as the white mage glowed a brilliant gold. Reddish-orange wings flicked for a moment from her back, as though she were and angel, or a phoenix. Dor's own shoulders itched mightily and a knot built at the base of her neck. She knelt behind Minwu just as the power fled Minwu and into the commander. Minwu exhaled and collapsed into Dor who held her around the middle.

The commander gasped, her eyes snapping open. She put a hand reflexively to her middle where the wound had been.

"Are you still in pain?" Dor asked.

The commander nodded. "I don't... I'm not sure..."

"Lie still." Dor said. She eased Minwu to the floor, unconscious. She knelt to the side of the commander, scissors in hand. "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to cut this off to see if you're still injured."

"Get on with it."

Dor cut the armor padding off the commander and peeled it back, the caked blood cracking. The commander's skin was scarred but smooth and unbroken. Dor ran her hands slowly up and down the woman's torso as she had seen Minwu do. She didn't know what she was feeling for, but when the commander gasped with pain, she closed her eyes, opened her book, and touched Minwu's Cura. She let the power flow through the card and into the commander at the point of pain. The commander eased under her touch.

Dor opened her eyes. The commander looked at her.

"Do you hurt anywhere else?" Dor asked.

The commander shook her head.

"Let's get you into bed. When Minwu wakes, she'll want to take another look at you."

"I haven't time to be in bed." The commander struggled to sit.

"That's not really for you to say, is it ma'am?" Dor said, even as her cheeks flushed.

"What did you say, Dorothy?"

"It's up to Minwu to decide when you're ready for active duty, right? If I let you walk out of this ward, she'll have my backside. You understand, don't you?"

The commander grinned ruefully.

"I'm sure, whatever orders you need to give can be given from in here. Let me help you into bed, then I'll see if Li will let that soldier back in."

Despite her insistence, the commander did need Dor's help to get up, get undressed, and into bed. Then Li helped Dor put Minwu onto the neighboring bed. Finally, they let Corporal May in to see the commander, who did, indeed, begin giving orders.

Minwu woke an hour later. She, too, insisted she was fine but between Dor and Li they made her stay in bed until she promised all she would do was inspect the commander for further injury.

The in and out of officers and runners reporting to the commander made the day hectic, but there were no further injuries except for Mogven the black mage, who had mistimed a fire spell and burned his hand. Dor treated it with ointment and bandaged it, earning a word of praise from Minwu for a job competently done.

Minwu insisted on staying the night in the ward to be near the commander should something happen. There were plenty of guards standing watch around the ward, so there was no need for Dor to stay up. She was making sure the supplies were put away correctly so she could turn in for the night when Li put a hand on her shoulder.

"A couple things I thought you should know," he said. "There's a letter I'm to deliver to Minwu. I'll give it to her in the morning. It says three apprentice white mages are on their way from Mysidia. Their departure was delayed. Apparently there are bandits on the highway."

"These are the girls Minwu thought I was," Dor said.

Li shrugged. "I can only assume. Also, someone's asking about you. Most of the camp doesn't know you exist yet. But I overheard a conversation in the laundry, about a girl with auburn hair in two long braids. After today, with the commander, the whole camp will know who you are and where you are. Apparently an old friend from home is looking for that girl with the two braids."

"I have no friends from home." Dor said with a sinking feeling. "Did you get a look at the person who's asking?"

Li shook his head.

"It's Elmira, almost certainly. Elmira Gulch. She was at the orphanage, but I don't think she's actually an orphan. She's after me and I don't know why. Her master wants me for something."

"Who's her master?"

Dor shrugged. "We didn't get that far into the conversation."

"What will you do?"

"I don't know."

Except she did know. She couldn't stay. She didn't know how Elmira compared to Minwu in power, or Mogven, or any of the other mages in camp. But she did know Elmira was relentless and dangerous and if she let Elmira find her, there would be a confrontation, and if there was a confrontation, people like the commander would want to know why Elmira was after her.

She went into the tent, but did not secure the flap. She folded the clothes Minwu had gotten for her and rolled them up in her bedroll. A clever harness stitched into one end of the bedroll, allowed her to carry it on her back in a neat little package. She felt bad about it, but she wasn't about to planeswalk in nothing but her nightgown again. She hoped Minwu would understand. Maybe Li would explain it to her.

She sat in the center of the tent, cross-legged, and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and slipped into the room in her mind. At a thought, her spell book appeared in her let the magic tingle at her shoulders, and she thought about the spark of light, the light of the multiverse, lighting her mind bright as summer and warming her deep in her chest. She let the magic reach out to the multiverse and let the multiverse reach out to her. She tried to focus on Equestria and Twilight Sparkle or maybe on Jubilee and a school upstate, but the multiverse shifted under her like a pile of loose sand, and she staggered through the Blind Eternities.


	8. Republic City, Part 1

Dor stepped from an alleyway.

This city reminded Dor of Jubilee's futuristic New York City. There were massive towers, but they were closer to the center than where Dor had emerged from the Blind Eternities. She could see them though, a skyline scraped by towers. The buildings in New York City had been edifices of stone and glass, these buildings, even the humbler buildings near her, were tile-roofed with bright colors, white-washed, and less rigid in their facades. The street was quiet, only a few folk about on business.

A thick, savory smell attracted Dor's attention, and she followed her nose to a two-story building with glossy red tile shingles and a wide open window with a counter. Five wooden stools stood at the counter, three of which were occupied. Through the window, Dor could see a tall, heavy-set man working at a long stove. He was frying something in a large pan, the source of the smell.

The food in camp had been plentiful, if plain. Beans and rice and stock, for the most part. It was enough to keep her from going hungry, but it was nothing like the heavenly smell coming from the window. She approached before she knew it, standing to one side of the window, trying not to take up room.

"Hello there, dear. Can I get you something to eat?"

A small, thin woman with black hair, titled eyes, and a small nose, approached the counter. She looked a little like Jubilee.

Dor smiled but shook her head even as her stomach rumbled. "No, thank you. I, uh... I don't have any money."

The woman appraised her gently but shrewdly. "Have you run away from home?"

Dor shook her head. "Not really. I left the orphanage. The headmistress didn't really want me there anyway." It wasn't the whole truth, but it was easier.

The woman gave a wry half-smile. "Did you learn any useful skills at the orphanage?"

Dor considered. She'd been taught to read, write, and figure. She'd been taught to scrub tables, sweep floors, and do laundry. She nodded. "Some."

"Well I'm happy to take on a little extra help in exchange for a meal," said the woman. "I've got a pantry that needs cleaned out and re-stocked. Are you up for it?"

Dor nodded. The thought of being fed making her eager. "Absolutely."

"Come around to the front door and I'll show you what needs done."

Dor walked around the right side of the building to what was obviously the front of the house. The front door was sheltered by a tiled awning and was painted bright green. A terracotta pot with yellow flowers stood just to the left of the door and the stoop was well swept.

A trio of men approached the door. They wore sharp, expensive suits with red ties and pin-striped jackets. They wore brimmed hats with red hat bands. They had a sinister, aggressive look about them. They took no notice of Dor, but she balked nonetheless. The shortest of the trio had wispy facial hair, and he stepped forward and hammered at the door while the other two flanked him, like bodyguards.

A moment later, the woman opened the door.

"Mrs. Chang, so good to see you again."

"Toshi. You can knock on the door. You don't have to pound on it." The small man looked chagrined. "Now, what do you need? We're busy here."

Toshi smirked. "Busy? Three customers is busy? My father's restaurants seats sixty at a time."

"Congratulations. Now, if you're here for protection money, tell your father we already paid this month." She made to close the door, but Toshi put a hand on it to stop her.

"That's not the way it works, Mrs. Chang. I don't tell my father what to do. And you, you don't tell me what to do. The price of protection has gone up. You owe us another fifty yuan to ensure the safety of this lovely establishment."

Mrs. Chang snorted derisively. "Another fifty yuan? There won't be an establishment to protect if you take all our money, little Toshi."

The short man stiffened, his face turning pink from embarrassment.

"Watch yourself, old woman. You don't want to be on the wrong side of the Agni Kais." He moved as though to grab Mrs. Chang.

Someone from inside the building, presumably the man working the stove, said something in a deep tone Dor couldn't make out. Toshi hesitated then looked past Mrs. Chang. "Watch yourself, fat man! You don't scare me."

Mrs. Chang put her fists on her hips. "Now, hang on, Toshi. I've known your father for..."

But Toshi shoved Mrs. Chang. She shouted in surprise as she staggered back.

Dor reacted.

She thrust her hand at Toshi and the tingle in her shoulders snapped through her arm to a dazzling display of light and sound that exploded on Toshi's chest—pink, green, yellow, blue—that sent him tumbling to the street, shouting wordlessly and rubbing at his eyes frantically. The two larger men turned to face her, and Dor's heart leapt. She'd never been prone to confrontation. She wasn't any good in a fight. And as the two men approached her, she was certain she was in for it.

Dor backed up slowly, her shoulders tingling. She knew she could cast Jubilee's Dazzler again but she didn't know how many times before she exhausted herself.

A lash of water wrapped around an ankle of one of them and jerked, pulling him to the street. The second thrust his fist at Dor, as though punching from afar, and a gout of flame launched at her. Dor dropped to the street with a squeak. The fire sailed over her head. She rolled to her feet awkwardly, trying to picture her spellbook. Another lash of water struck the man from behind and he stumbled forward just as Dor let loose another Dazzler. He cried out and fell to his knees swinging his arms about madly, unable to see or hear.

Dor looked about and found a girl with brown skin and flowing brown hair and bright blue eyes in an elegant stance, a stream of water suspend around her like a metaphysical liquid scarf, ready to strike at her command. The girl looked at Dor and smiled impishly.

"Enough!" Mrs. Chang shouted from the doorway.

Toshi staggered to his feet, shaking the last of the lights from his vision. "My father will hear of this!" he shouted. He swung his arm at Mrs. Chang but his fireball went wide and struck the side of the building. A big, black scorch mark marred the white-washed building. A moment later a splash of water hit the building and it steamed.

Five people in black uniforms under metal armor suddenly dropped from above, suspended on metal cables, surrounding them. As they landed, the cables retracted into devices on their wrists with high-pitched whirrs. They had golden badges on their left breasts, a sign of some office.

"All of you, on your knees! Put your hands on your heads, you're under arrest!"

Dor immediately did as she was told.

Toshi spun in a quick circle before realizing he was surrounded. He hurled flame at one of them, a woman with dark curly hair and a pair of scars on her right cheek. Dor ducked and closed her eyes, even though the flame was nowhere near her. When she looked up, Toshi was bound in metal cabling, squirming on the street. His compatriots knelt, hands cuffed behind their backs. The girl with the water powers, faced with two of the people in armor, raised her hands and dropped to her knees. The water around her splashed to the street.

A horseless carriage, came around the corner and rolled toward them. One of the men in armor opened a pair of large, double doors and the large men in the suits and red ties were herded in.

The woman with curly hair and face scars approached Dor. Her expression was grim. "How old are you?"

Dor cleared her throat. "Thirteen."

"Great, another minor. I haven't seen you in this neighborhood before. Where are you from?"

"Wakefield."

The woman raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's, uh, in the north."

The woman grunted. "You a waterbender?"

"A what?"

The woman sighed. "If I let you loose, are you going cause any further trouble?"

Dor looked past the woman at the girl in blue who was being led to the carriage where the large men were already sitting on a bench on one side. The girl had her hands secured behind her back with metal cuffs.

"What's going to happen to her?" Dor asked.

The woman didn't even look. "Kya Chang is under arrest for disturbing the peace and public brawling. She's done this before."

Dor watched Kya as she was pushed up into the carriage. She sat across from the large men. Dor looked over her shoulder at Mrs. Chang, still standing in her doorway, hands on hips, expression furious but also worried.

"Those men attacked Mrs. Chang. Kya was just defending her."

The woman held up a hand. "An officer will be by to take your statement. Stay out of trouble, kid." She turned away.

Dor looked back at Mrs. Chang again, then at the woman in metal armor. "No."

The woman stopped. She turned slowly, eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"

"I... If you let me go, I won't stay out of trouble. I should go with Kya."

The woman considered for a moment, her gaze flickered behind Dor, then she nodded. "Right then. You're under arrest for disturbing the peace. Put your hands behind your back and turn around."

Dor slung her bedroll off her back and turned around. Mrs. Chang was watching Kya, but she looked at Dor when she turned around. Dor set her pack on the street, and Mrs. Chang hurried forward.

"Don't worry dear. I'll have you out by this evening. Shall I keep this for you until then?"

"Yes, please." Dor put her hands behind her back. "I'll tell them what happened. And I'll keep an eye on Kya for you." The woman in the armor snapped a pair of metal cuffs around her wrists. Dor remembered what Jubilee had said about the police in her futuristic New York City. She hoped the police of this city could be trusted.

Mrs. Chang smiled. Then she looked behind Dor. "Sergeant Beifong."

"Mrs. Chang."

"I don't suppose there's any talking you out of arresting my daughter?"

"She's had her share of second chances. You can pick her up at the prescient on 37th street."

Sergeant Beifong put a hand on Dor's shoulder and steered her to the carriage. Dor climbed in and sat next to Kya on the metal bench, facing the two large men. Up close, Dor could see their suits, while nicer than anything Dor had ever worn, weren't as nice as those she'd seen on the rich men who occasional visited St. Bridget's Orphanage looking to adopt a child.

"Hi. I'm Kya," said the girl in blue.

Dor nodded. "I'm Dorothy Alice Wendy. You can call me Dor."

"Thanks for standing up for my mom."

"I couldn't just do nothing."

"You should have," said one of the large men. "Mr. Sakaguchi won't like it you interfered. You two should have kept your noses out of it."

"That's my mother you attacked!" Kya stood, smacking her head on the metal ceiling of the carriage. She sat with a wince and a thump.

Their conversation was interrupted by a squabble and scuffle in the street. All four of them craned to look. Toshi was refusing to get to his feet willingly. Two of the police officers were trying to get him up while he squirmed and shouted obscenities. Eventually, Sergeant Beifong thrust her hand at him, and a cable shot from her wrist. Dor watched, fascinated, as a pair of wheels upon her back spun, unspooling the cable from a pack built into her armor. The cable attached to the cable already binding Toshi. With a casual flick of her wrist, she lifted Toshi with her cable and flung him into the carriage. He landed with a thump and a groan.

Sergeant Beifong gave them all a look. "Behave." With a gesture, she slammed the doors closed.

The carriage grumbled to life and began moving. They weathered the ride in silence, except Toshi who grumbled and complained the whole way. Ten minutes later, the doors were opened. The two large men were directed to exit first, then Toshi was dragged out, and finally Sergeant Beifong appeared.

"Come on you two."

Dor and Kya stood and shuffled out of the carriage and into the backside of a building. They entered a large room filled with desks and police officers and criminals and regular folk. Dor felt her shoulders tighten. So many people in one room was off-putting. She looked around for Toshi and the others, but didn't see them. Sergeant Beifong put a hand on their shoulders and steered them through the room to a metal desk with neatly ordered stacks of papers in folders, writing utensils, and other items Dor didn't recognize. She sat at the desk, pulled out a folder and a piece of paper from the folder. She took up a pen and looked at them.

"Kya Chang, I already have your information, you may sit." She nodded at a wooden stool beside her desk.

"What if I don't want to sit?" Kya said, tone defiant.

Sergeant Beifong's jaw clenched before she said, "What if I put you in general lock up with those gangsters you defied today?"

"I'm not afraid."

Sergeant Beifong sighed and rolled her eyes. "Just sit down. Please?"

Dor looked at Kya, who looked at Dor. Dor shrugged. Kya grinned, but she sat.

"All right. You, what's your name?"

"Dor."

Sergeant Beifong growled and tossed the pen and paper on her desktop. She stood and planted her hands on the desk, leaning toward Dor, barely containing her fury.

"Don't play games with me, girl."

"I... I'm sorry. My name is Dorothy Alice Wendy. Most everyone calls me Dor." Despite her spike in fear, Dor didn't think Sergeant Beifong would hurt her. Even so, she didn't want to make the woman angry.

Sergeant Beifong took a deep breath, sat, and wrote for a moment. "Place of birth?"

"I don't know." Before Sergeant Beifong could growl at her, Dor hurried on. "I'm an orphan. I was raised at St. Bridget's Orphanage in Wakefield, Quebec."

Sergeant Beifong wrote this down, then said, "I've never heard of any of those places."

"I'm not surprised. It's, uh, very far away from here."

"Huh. Are you a bender?"

"A what?"

Sergeant Beifong raised an eyebrow at her, slowly.

"Uh... no."

Sergeant Beifong wrote for a few minutes, looking up at Dor every once in a while. When she was done, she stood and withdrew a few items from her desk. She unlocked the cuffs holding her, then, one by one, pressed her fingers onto an inkpad and then onto a chart. Despite herself, Dor was fascinated. She'd read of using fingerprints to identify criminals in Doyle's _Adventures of Sherlock Holmes_ , but had never thought she'd see it firsthand.

When she was done, Sergeant Beifong stood. "Follow me." She led them down a hallway to a closed door. She knocked at a metal panel and a few moments later, the door opened. Dor realized the sergeant had neglected to replace the metal cuffs. She wondered if it was a mistake.

"Uh, sergeant? I, uh, you didn't put the cuffs back on."

Without looking back, she said, "You gonna cause me any trouble?"

"No ma'am."

Sergeant Beifong turned right down a long hallway, on either side of which were cells with metal walls, fronted by metal bars. The people in the cells looked up as they passed, but one look at Sergeant Beifong and they kept their peace. Sergeant Beifong stopped in front of an empty cell and gestured with both hands. A section of the bars slid aside. Dor walked in while the sergeant un-cuffed Kya, who followed, rubbing at her arms.

"You two behave."

There were two metal platforms topped with a thin pallet on either side of the cell. Otherwise, it was empty. Kya sat on the one on the right, so Dor sat on the one of the left.

"First time being arrested?" Kya asked.

Dor nodded. "Not you though?"

Kya shook her head. "Fifth time. I got off with a warning a few times. Mom and dad are popular with the beat cops. Last couple times though, I got brought in."

Dor cleared her throat nervously. She'd thought Kya was just defending her home, her mother, but the way she talked about being arrested, Dor wondered if she'd been incarcerated with a hardened criminal.

"What for?" Dor asked.

"Tangling with the Agni Kai. They're a gang of firebenders causing trouble in my neighborhood. Mom and dad say I should keep my head down, that the gangsters aren't so bad, but I hate how they extort my parents. I'm getting better with my bending skills, so I stand up to them every chance I get."

Dor nodded. She could understand where Kya's parents were coming from, but she understood Kya too. She didn't want to just keep her head down anymore, and the blue-eyed girl's confidence was infectious.

"So, that sparkly light thing you did, are you some kind of special firebender?" Kya asked.

Dor shook her head, then shrugged. "I don't think so. I don't really know what a firebender is."

Kya laughed before she realized Dor wasn't kidding. "Wow. You must be really isolated where you come from."

"Not really." She debated whether or not to tell Kya her story.

"Well, what's that mean? Everybody knows about bending."

"I could explain, but you probably won't believe me. I can hardly believe it myself."

Kya grinned. "This is a joke, right? Some kind of elaborate prank? I'm not sure we know each other well enough to play pranks."

Dor shrugged again. "Maybe you want to tell me why those guys were harassing your mother?"

Kya stood and started pacing the length of the cell. "Because the Agni Kai gang thinks they can expand their territory. There used to be another gang who claimed the neighborhood, the Soggy Bottoms, but they were really zen. They didn't extort my parents for protection money. They just tried to keep the peace when the metalbender cops couldn't. Since Avatar Aang died, it's been a little chaotic in Republic City."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Dor.

Kya stopped her pacing and looked at Dor, narrowing her eyes. "You don't know who Avatar Aang is, do you?"

Dor shook her head.

"Are you from outer space?"

"Something like that," said Dor.

"Really? No, this is a joke, right?"

"So, how long do you think they're going to keep us here? Will there be a trial?" Dor asked.

"No, no, no," said Kya. "You have to explain that."

"You sure?"

Kya nodded.

"What I told the sergeant is true. I'm an orphan. I don't know who my parents are. I don't know where I was born. I was raised at St. Bridget's Orphanage in Wakefield, Quebec, a province in Canada. But I'm pretty sure you've never heard of any of those places.

Kya shook her head.

"That's because they're not on this world. They're not even on this plane of existence. Where I come from, there's no magic, no, uh... what did you call it?"

"Bending?" said Kya.

"Right. No bending. But one day I was..." Dor cleared her throat uncomfortably. "One day, a new girl arrived. She's awful. One thing led to another and I fell off the roof of the orphanage. Rather than falling to my certain doom, I ended up in a forest, the Everfree Forest, in Equestria, and I met a talking purple unicorn named Twilight Sparkle."

Kya guffawed but after a few moments she sobered. "You're telling the truth."

"I am." Dor told Kya about her adventures and about Elmira Gulch.

"Well, if she shows up here, I've got your back. You defended my mom, and nothing's more important to me than family."

Dor smiled.

"So, this thing you can do, it's magic?"

Dor nodded.

"I always thought magic was just a story."

"Your bending isn't a form of magic?"

Kya shook her head. "Bending is a way of moving with your chi and connecting to the natural world. A person with the right predilection can then bend one of the four elements: earth, fire, air, or," she gestured at herself, "water. I'm a waterbender. Grandma was a bender from the southern water tribe. Dad's grandparents are from the Earth Kingdom, but he doesn't have any benders in his ancestry. Grandma taught me some bending before she passed on." Kya sighed sadly. "Mom doesn't like it when I waterbend. She thinks it's going to get me in trouble." She got up and started pacing again. "She's always on my case about things like that. She thinks I should just keep my head down and work hard and help the family. And I want to help. I love my parents. But I just... I don't want to work in a foodstall the rest of my life, you know?"

Dor thought the idea of working in a quiet food stall sounded nice, but she nodded supportively.

"And I don't mean to cause trouble. I don't want to get arrested, but gangsters like those Agni Kai need to understand they can't just push people around. Eventually, someone's going to push back."

"And that someone is going to be you?"

"If I have to," Kya said. She gave Dor an aggressive look.

Dor held her hands up. "I'm certainly not going to try to tell you want to do."

Kya sat back on her cot with a sigh. "So, if you're not a firebender then what are you?"

"I'm not sure. A planeswalker I suppose, except I don't know how to planeswalk anywhere specific. And if I see someone do something fantastical, sometimes it becomes a playing card in my mind. But not always."

"What have you learned to do?"

"You remember I told you about the girl in that big, futuristic city?"

Kya nodded enthusiastically.

"Her name is Jubilee and she can shoot sparks from her fingers to stun things."

"Like the mechanical spiders?"

"Right. And that's what I did to Toshi, I hit him with Jubilee's Dazzler."

Kya whistled. "Not bending, but real, actual magic."

Dor took a deep, back-popping breath. Her vision fuzzed and she yawned hard. "Oof. Pardon me, Kya. I'm exhausted. I left Ivalice just before I was going to go to bed. I'm a few hours into when I should be asleep."

"No problem You can sleep if you want. I'll keep an eye out."

Dor lay on her back on the cot. She closed her eyes and focused on the room in her mind while trying to let her body relax. The room came readily. She sat cross-legged and the book appeared on her lap. She opened it and, to her surprise, found a fourth, white-bordered playing card had joined the others.

* * *

 **Minwu's Lifa** **2WWW**

 **Tribal Sorcery – Cleric Instant**

Return target creature you own that died this turn to the battlefield under your control.

* * *

The art depicted Minwu, holding her staff in both hands, eyes closed, expression peaceful, surrounded by a bright, golden halo, the barest hint of fiery wings behind her.

* * *

A clang of metal on metal and incoherent shouting woke Dor. She sat up quickly and looked around. After a few breaths she calmed her racing heart. Whoever had shouted wasn't in the cell with them.

Kya stood in the middle of the room, stance wide, arms upraised, moving slowly from stance to stance as though dancing. Dor put her back to the metal wall and drew her knees to her chest. The shouting down the hallway continued. There was the sound of a scuffle, and more people joined in the shouting. Dor hunched her shoulders before she caught herself. She forced herself to relax, watching Kya's slow, sure movement. She made herself take a deep breath, and then another. She let the image of the room in her mind enter her thoughts, though she did not close her eyes. She kept her eyes on Kya, her graceful movements, her flowing hair, her serene expression, and though the shouting grew, her shoulders relaxed.

When she was finished, Kya turned and bowed to Dor. "How'd I do?"

Dor shrugged. "You looked amazing to me. What is it?"

"It's the first form grandma every taught me. It's just the basics, but it's how I learned waterbending."

"Was there supposed to be water?"

Kya shook her head. "You can't bend an element if it isn't already present. That's why I keep a flask on me at all times. Those metalbender jackboots took it though."

"But Toshi and the others..."

"Firebenders create fire from the passion of their souls. Or maybe it's their body heat. I'm not sure anyone knows for certain."

"That's fascinating."

Kya shrugged.

"Do you think you could teach me?"

Kya nodded. "Sure. Do you think you can learn waterbending like you did those other things?"

Dor popped off the cot. "I don't know. But, I don't move that well. When those men came toward me, I just flailed and ducked. But you, you're so graceful. If I could learn even a tenth of that I'd be much better off."

Kya grinned and Dor blushed.

Dor stood in the center of the room and let Kya show her how to stand: feet shoulder-width apart, arms loose at her side, relaxed. That took the better part of ten minutes. Dor was too stiff, and found it awkward where Kya put her feet. Then Kya showed her how to move into the second stance, hands outstretched, pulling her left foot close but not quite touching her right. And then the third stance with her right foot stretched out back and her right arm arced over her head. All of this was to be done slowly, as slowly as she could manage. Dor hadn't realized how difficult it was to move slowly.

They made it through the stances and started again, and Dor couldn't remember which stance came after the first. Kya, with all the patience of a guru showed her again, step by step.

"I'm really bad at this," said Dor.

"Yeah, you're pretty bad."

Dor snorted and giggled. Kya laughed loudly.

"Well, I'm so glad you're having fun." Mrs. Chang's voice snapped into the cell.

Dor and Kya turned to face the bars wide-eyed and guilty. Dor felt herself blush furiously, her eyes watery with shame. She willed herself not to cry. Mrs. Chang stood with hands on hips, next to Sergeant Beifong. Both women looked stern and disapproving. Dor's backside tingled uncomfortably.

"Mom," said Kya. "I... I'm really sorry. Thanks for coming."

Sergeant Beifong slid the cell door to the side with a gesture. Dor had assumed it was magic, now she understood it was metalbending. She pointed at Dor. "The Republic City attorney won't be filing charges against you, considering this is your first offense and your age, but stay out of trouble"

Dor nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

She pointed at Kya. "You are released under your family's supervision. This is your fifth offense, Kya Chang. You won't get many more chances, but as you were acting in self-defense, I got the Republic City attorney to forego charges. This time. Understood?"

Kya nodded. "Yes, sergeant."

"Come on you two, we're going home," Mrs. Chang said, voice firm. Kya followed her mother meekly, posture at great odds with the restless confidence Dor had seen the last few hours. Dor hurried after, skin atingle with excitement, uncertainty, and a lack of sleep.


	9. Republic City, Part 2

They left through the front entrance, a pair of large, metal double doors, onto a wide street filled with horseless carriages rumbling along the way and pedestrians hurrying about their tasks. It was busy and crowded and Dor found herself uncertain. Perhaps it was time to planeswalk again, before Elmira found her.

"You're coming with us, aren't you?" said Kya.

Dor blinked at the other girl. Mrs. Chang was already walking down the street, back strait, shoulders firm.

"I don't want to cause any trouble," Dor said.

"It's not any trouble. You defended my family and my home. I'd like to invite you to dinner. If you want."

Dor's stomach rumbled and she smiled shyly. "I would very much appreciate that."

It was about a twenty-five minute walk from the police station to the Chang's house. Mrs. Chang led the way. She didn't look at them or speak to them. Kya walked close to Dor, as though sheltering from her mother's ire.

When they got to the house, the tall, heavy-set man Dor had seen working the kitchen, was outside the front door with a pail and a brush, white-washing the scorch mark. When he saw them, he put the items down, hugged Mrs. Chang, and kissed the top of her head. They murmured to each other briefly before she went inside. Then he stepped up to Kya and hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head as he had her mother's.

"Daddy, this is Dorothy Alice Wendy. Everyone calls her Dor."

Dor stuck her hand out, but he bowed to Dor and she returned the bow as best she could.

"Thank you for what you did today." His voice was deep and soft. "You are always welcome to eat at our table."

"Thank you, sir."

Kya heaved a great sigh. "Time to face the dragon, I suppose."

She led the way inside. Mrs. Chang stood at the bottom of the stairs, arms crossed. Her stern expression had softened during the walk home. Now she looked more disappointed than anything else.

"Kya, we have talked about this. I do not want you getting involved with gangsters."

"I'm not involved with them mom, I'm trying to stand up to them."

Mrs. Chang held up a finger and Kya's mouth clacked shut.

"Any entanglement with these people is bad—bad for our business and bad for our family. Now, I had a talk with Mr. Sakaguchi."

Kya gasped. "You did what?"

"He needs to understand we're not trying to challenge his authority. Homes are burned for less, Kya. Sometimes worse. Mr. Sakaguchi said he understood the recklessness of youth and assured me the protection payment has not increased."

"So it's all right for you get involved with—"

"That's enough! I have known Mr. Sakaguchi for decades. You are impetuous. You're going to get hurt if you don't stop." A tear fled down Mrs. Chang's cheek and she cleared her throat roughly. "Upstairs. Now." She snapped her fingers and pointed up the stairs.

Kya hurried to obey.

Dor stood awkwardly, watching Kya. When Mrs. Chang's gaze turned to her, she swallowed hard.

"Your name is Dorothy?"

Dor nodded. "You can call me Dor."

"I appreciate what you did today, for my daughter, for my home. You didn't have to do that."

Dor shrugged uncomfortably. "I didn't mean to cause you or your family any trouble. Honestly Mrs. Chang, Kya was only defending you."

Mrs. Chang's expression turned stern, but she nodded. "Even so, she must learn subtlety and control. She's far too reckless." She took a breath to settle herself. "Would you mind helping Po in the kitchen?"

"Not at all." Dor bowed to Mrs. Chang as she had Kya's father and turned away as Mrs. Chang went up the stairs. It wasn't hard to find the kitchen. The smell of frying food was thick in the house. She found the large man opening the shutter over the long window with a winch on the side.

"Mrs. Chang said I should sweep out the pantry," said Dor.

"Hmm." Mr. Chang nodded and gestured at the far side of the kitchen where doorway led to a room inside of which were mostly empty wooden crates of vegetables and bags of flower and dried meat, and other ingredients Dor didn't know. There was a broom in the corner and she set to work.

She'd only gotten started when she heard the unmistakable sound of a bare-bottom spanking. For all the toughness Kya had shown in prison, she sounded just like every other girl Dor had heard getting a spanking. She yelped and cried and wailed and promised to be good. Mrs. Chang seemed a thorough spanker, the chastisement held a steady rhythm.

Dor blushed and cringed.

She stacked the bags and crates on one side and swept out the other, then swapped sides. She took the sweepings to a dustbin outback, directed by Mr. Chang, where she found a cart stopped by the gate and a man disembarking. Dor fetched Mr. Chang, and when the new crates of ingredients had been signed for, she hauled them in and stocked the pantry.

Mrs. Chang joined them as customers began to arrive, lured by the tantalizing scent of Po Chang's cooking.

"Po put you to work already?" Mrs. Chang said, a forced lightness to her tone.

Dor looked up from where she bent over a crate to unload it. Mrs. Chang looked a bit flush, a bit sad. Dor had never seen Sister Mary Margaret look sad after spanking her.

"That was the deal," Dor said.

"You don't have to do chores for us," Mrs. Chang said. "That was before all this trouble."

Dor shook her head. "Honestly, ma'am, I'm not sure I'm any more innocent of troublemaking than Kya in all this. If you wanted to spank me too, I would absolutely understand. Either way, we made a deal and I'd prefer not to go back on it."

Mrs. Chang considered for a moment, and nodded. "You're not my daughter, and I don't think you deserve a spanking. I appreciate you helping out."

Dor knew her way around a kitchen well enough, though she wasn't much of a cook. After a while, she realized there was a similar rhythm to things in the Chang's kitchen as there had been in Minwu's healing ward and she was soon able to predict when he would want which tool or which ingredient, when it was time to serve a plate or chop a vegetable. As the sky darkened, demand increased. Mrs. Chang lit lanterns on the outside of the building.

To Dor's surprise, Kya joined them not long thereafter, eyes red and expression meek, but confident and helpful in the kitchen nonetheless. She shot Dor a rueful grin and Dor smiled back. She was glad Kya wasn't resentful or angry or heartbroken after her spanking.

Hours later, after the last customer was gone, the window was closed, and the four of them had cleaned the kitchen and organized the pantry, they all sat in the Chang's cozy dining room around a circular table and ate the most amazing meal Dor had ever had. There was chicken dumplings and wanton soup and fried rice and chow mein, and even though Dor didn't know all those words, the food was amazing and she had two servings, helping Kya to eat all the food Mr. Chang had cooked. It was the first meal she'd ever had where she was encouraged to eat as much as she liked, where the companionship was palpable, where there was open laughter and smiles.

Dor helped clean up after dinner while Mr. and Mrs. Chang played a game on a cross-hatch board with black and white stones.

When the cleanup was done, Kya said, "You're welcome to sleep in my room as long as you're staying with us. Or you can put out your bedroll in the living room if you prefer."

"I'd be happy to stay in your room. Thank you."

Kya smiled and took her hand. "Come on." She led Dor upstairs and down a hall to her bedroom. Dor knew the sisters at St. Bridget's had their own quarters, but other than the room she'd woken in at Princess Celestia's palace, she'd never seen a private bedroom before. It was cozy, but big enough for a wardrobe, desk, armless chair, and a bed beyond luxurious by orphanage standards. It had a thick wooden frame and four posts with curtains. She counted five pillows and there was at least enough room for three orphans.

On the floor was a pallet inexpertly made up of blankets and pillows.

"You can take the bed. I'll take the floor," Kya said.

"What? I can't take your bed. That would be beyond rude."

Kya shook her bed. "It'd be rude if I didn't offer, and I've had my spanking for the day, thank you."

Dor blushed but Kya giggled.

"Well it's a pretty big bed. We could share if you like," said Dor.

"You don't mind?"

"Not at all."

Dor's bedroll was in the corner by the desk, and she unrolled it enough to collect her clothes. She stripped shyly, but Kya had no such reservations, she pulled off her shirt and pants to reveal a pair of high-cut, bright blue drawers with a white waistband and a matching blue brassier. Her dark skin was smooth and unblemished, muscles shifting gracefully on her lithe body. Kya caught Dor looking at her before she could look away, and she grinned. Dor pulled on her night shirt and Kya dressed in a pair of loose pants and shirt.

After some squirming and jostling and snuggling, they found a comfortable arrangement, Dor on the left, Kya on the right. The window was open and the room was cool, but they were warm under the comforters.

"Dor, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Have... have you ever been spanked?"

"Many, many times. At the orphanage, all the sisters were allowed to spank any girl at any time for any reason. Sister Mary Margaret, the headmistress, she was the worst. She always spanked bare bottom and sometimes with a cane."

"But, you're so well behaved. What did she spank you for?"

"My imagination. She thought it was an affront to God."

"What's god?"

Dor's bottom tingled at the blasphemous question. "Where I come from, He's thought to be the creator of the world and all life. I... I'm not sure I believe it though."

"So, he's like a spirit from the spirit world?"

Dor shrugged. "Maybe. I imagine things are different here."

"I suppose you don't really approve of spanking then?"

Dor sighed. "I told you about Minwu, the white mage, right?"

Kya nodded.

"She spanked me too. But... she only did it when I did something dangerous or when... when I asked her to. And her spankings never felt mean, they never hurt as deeply as Sister Mary Margaret's."

"So, you don't think my mother is awful for spanking me?"

"No. I think your mother is wonderful. She cares about you and... and I know you don't want to hear it, but my brief experience with the War of the Lions made me think fighting isn't the best way to solve a problem. That said, I understand being unable to stand aside when people are being hurt."

Kya sighed. "I wouldn't fight if they didn't start it."

Dor yawned, the length of the day catching up with her. She yawned again, harder.

* * *

The Changs easily incorporated Dor into their domestic rhythm. She helped with the food stall and did laundry and swept, all of which she'd done at the orphanage, but on a more personal scale. Mrs. Chang said Dor was a good influence on Kya and Kya agreed.

"All this stuff is much less boring when you're here," Kya said.

And when the chores were done, Kya showed Dor the waterbending forms she knew. Mrs. Chang didn't object, though Dor could tell it made her uncomfortable. That first day, at midmorning, before the lunch crowd, Kya walked Dor though the stances she'd taught her in their cell. The third time through, Dor remembered all the motions, even if she was still awkward. Kya cheered her on enthusiastically.

On the second day, Dor managed the form without prompting. And when she came to the last stance, pulling her feet together and her hands in front of her as though in prayer, there was a tingle at her shoulders and a playing card flickered ever so briefly in her mind's eye. It was blue-bordered instead of white, and her surprise scattered it from her mind.

"What was that?" said Kya. "Your expression just now, it's like you saw something unexpected."

Dor explained about the playing card.

Kya smiled broadly. "You're learning to become a waterbender, aren't you?"

"Maybe? As I've said, I don't precisely understand how my powers work."

Kya smiled exuberantly and fetched a pail of water from the cistern. With a careful movement she pulled a streamer of water from it and went through the motions of the basic form.

"You have to feel the water around you. It's everywhere: in the ground, in the air, even in ourselves. You must be at one with it. Water is formless. With it you can adapt to any situation. You can make your opponents into allies. You can make their strengths your strengths." She moved through each stance with fluid grace and when she came to the end, she poured the water back into the bucket.

"Now, you try."

Dor closed her eyes and moved to the first stance. She could feel the tingle at her neck as she moved through the form. She could taste the water on the air. But there was no playing card and the water didn't move.

"That's all right," said Kya. "We'll just have to keep trying."

And they did.

Whenever there was a free moment, they went to the backyard and practiced. Kya showed her more advanced forms, snapping water like a whip, flinging it like a dart, even freezing and unfreezing it.

"That's extraordinarily impressive," said Dor.

Kya blushed. "Nah, I'm only a beginner."

And on the fifth day, Dor managed it.

She went through the basic form, eyes closed, shoulders tingling and when she came to a stop, there was a splash and her feet were soaked. In her mind's eye, a blue-bordered playing card rippled into existence.

* * *

 **Kya's Waterbending** **1U**

 **Elemental Enchantment – Water Aura**

Enchant a creature you control

UU: Enchanted creature gets +1/-1 or -1/+1 until end of turn. This ability cannot be used if it would reduce enchanted creature's toughness to less than 1.

* * *

Kya whooped with glee and grabbed Dor in an enthusiastic embrace. Dor knew Kya was more fit than she was, but she hadn't realized how strong the other girl was. Dor smiled broadly and hugged her back even as the other girl lifted her off the ground and spun her about. Dor squealed. Kya put her on her feet.

"You did it! I can't believe you learned to be a waterbender." And she kissed Dor soundly on the cheek.

Dor gasped and Kya let her go and backed up.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

Dor touched her cheek. "You didn't?"

"No. I mean it was just..."

Dor smiled shyly. "It's okay."

"Really?"

Dor nodded. "It was nice."

That evening, at dinner, Kya proudly told her parents of Dor's accomplishment.

"I'd have said it was not possible had I not seen it myself," Mrs. Chang said.

"You were watching us?" Kya asked with a hint of trepidation.

"Occasionally."

"It must be because I'm not from here," Dor said. On her second night with the Changs, she'd told them about her planeswalking. She didn't know if they believed her, but they didn't challenge her on it. "I've learned other things too, like I've told you."

Mr. and Mrs. Chang exchanged a look..

"I think we should keep this between us. I don't know how others would react and we don't want any undue attention," Mrs. Chang said.

That night, when Kya and Dor changed for bed, Kya didn't put on her customary pajamas, instead getting into bed in only her brassier and short drawers. Though Dor was fastidious with her laundry, Kya offered to loan her extra clothes and Dor accepted for sake of variety. Kya was larger around the hips and bust than Dor, so Kya's shirts and pants hung a bit on her, but she was too grateful to complain. Most commonly she'd borrowed Kya's pajamas. When Kya didn't wear any, Dor wore just her nightgown instead.

They snuggled close under the comforter. Kya turned on her side and put her arm around Dor's waist. It felt comfortable, natural, and Dor did not object. Instead she kissed Kya's cheek.

"Thank you for teaching me," Dor said.

"Thanks for being such a great student," Kya said.

Despite the excitement of having Kya so close, the work of the day had Dor soon asleep.

* * *

Dor was surprised when the day did not begin with preparing the kitchen.

"Our fine establishment takes Sunday off." Kya said.

"Oh, it's Sunday? Where I come from that's also a day of rest."

Kya was not as enthralled with the etymological similarities and differences between their worlds. It only seemed natural to her that they speak the same language, even though Dor had tried to explain to her how unlikely that was.

Kya shrugged. "Anyway, mom and dad like to take the day to wander the city. They say it's romantic."

"That's sweet," said Dor.

"If you say so. I thought we might do something too."

Since arriving, Dor had not left the walls of the Chang's property. The thought made her nervous. What if Elmira was out there somewhere, looking for her? What if they ran into the Agni Kai? What if any number of bad things happened? On the other hand, Kya was asking her out, and she wasn't about to say no.

"Like what?"

"Oh, there's a market a couple neighborhoods over."

Before Mr. and Mrs. Chang left, Mrs. Chang handed Kya a small purse of coins and gave another to Dor. "Five yuan apiece."

"Thanks, mom," said Kya, kissing her cheek.

"You're paying me?" said Dor. "The deal was food for work, not payment."

Mrs. Chang made a dismissive sound. "That's the deal I make with travelers who need a bit of help. You are a friend of the family so get treated like family." She gave them both a stern look. "Speaking of which, you two behave today. If I have to bail you out of jail again, you won't sit comfortably for days. Understood?"

Dor felt a small thrill of fear, but as with Minwu, she was confident Mrs. Chang would never spank her unfairly or meanly. Kya rolled her eyes.

"We're not gonna get in trouble. Dor will keep an eye on me, right Dor?"

Dor nodded. "Yes, ma'am. No trouble here."

"Good girls."

Mr. and Mrs. Chang left, hand in hand. Kya led Dor the other way.

It was a twenty minute walk to the market. Dor tried not to gawk. Republic City was like New York City in its bustling crowdedness, but was so unlike it in its architecture. The buildings here seemed much more in tune with their natural surroundings. Even so, it had its futuristic trappings: motorized vehicles, satomobiles, Kya called them, and the metal cables strung above the streets, and the massive hot air balloons wandering the skies, and the evidence of everyday bending. There were the earthbenders fixing a street, the waterbenders unclogging a storm drain, and, when they got to the market, firebenders cooking at stalls and doing street performance.

"What about airbenders?" Dor asked.

Kya gave her a look. "I forgot you didn't know. A hundred some years ago, the Fire Nation nearly wiped them all out. Avatar Aang was the last, but now his kids and grandkids, some of them anyway, they're airbenders too. They live on Airbender Island, out in the bay. She waved vaguely in a direction.

They wandered the market through a variety of stalls: clothes and jewelry, food and trinkets, so on and so forth. Kya bought a pink scarf to hold back her hair for two yuan and bought them both grilled steak and on stick for half a yuan. Dor bought them lemonade, but didn't know else what to buy so decided to save her money. They wandered the market, watching the performers and examining the wares for an hour or so before Kya suddenly put a hand on Dor's arm.

"I don't want to worry you, but I think I see some Agni Kai."

Dor stiffened, then forced herself to relax. "Where?"

"Don't look, but behind us"

They walked a little before turning casually. Down a small side street, a man in the rough clothes of a workman stood beside a nondescript door. A man in an expensive suit and a brimmed hat with a red hatband just disappeared through the door, giving the man guarding it a short nod.

"What do you think they're doing?" Dor asked.

"Nothing good. Come on." Kya led them down the block and turned down a different side street to the backside of the building. "It's a warehouse," Kya mused under her breath, looking at the building. Her gaze stopped upon a window lit from within.

"What are you doing?" Dor asked.

"I just want to take a peek. If nothing's going on, I'll forget it. If something is, I'll let our friend Beifong deal with it."

Dor bit her lip. "This is a bad idea."

"Look, there's a balcony there, across the street. We can climb up there and then look through the window. The street's narrow enough we might see something."

Before Dor could object, Kya leapt, caught the bottom of the balcony, and pulled herself up easily. She leaned over the railing and held her hand out to Dor. Regretting it, Dor jumped and caught Kya's hand and let her haul her up. From their vantage, they could see through the window, but all they could see was that it was well lit within.

"Huh," Kya muttered.

"I have an idea," said Dor. "But you have to promise all we're going to do is look."

Kya grinned at her. "Promise."

Dor took Kya's hand, closed her eyes, and opened the spell book in her mind's eye. The playing cards had re-arranged themselves. There were five spells now, the four white-bordered cards organized in alphabetical order, top to bottom, left to right, followed by the single blue-bordered card:

Jubilee's Dazzler

Minwu's Cura

Minwu's Lifa

Twilight's Blink

Kya's Waterbending

Dor channeled the mana tingling at her shoulders into Twilight's Blink. With a crack of magic, she and Kya teleported from the balcony, past the window, into the building.

They stood upon a wooden balcony overlooking a large room. The room was lit with electric lights hanging from the ceiling, a marvel Dor had only ever heard of. Satomobiles were parked in a line along one wall. Men in coveralls worked on the machines with a variety of tools. There was a lot of conversation and the sound of machines whirring. The room was filled with the faint haze of machinery running in an enclosed space.

"Look there," Kya whispered.

Toshi stood at one end of the room, talking with a man in coveralls. Dor's chest tightened at the sight of him.

"Any chance this a legitimate business?" Dor whispered.

"Like what?" Kya whispered back.

Dor shrugged. "Satomobiles need to be repaired, right?"

Kya shook her head. "This is a chop shop. They steal cars and take them apart to sell the parts."

"How do you know?"

"I heard a rumor they might be operating in this area."

Dor frowned. "Is that why you brought us here? To hunt Agni Kai?"

Kya cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"Come on." Dor held her hand out to Kya. "Let's get out of here."

"Wait," said Kya. "Can you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"The water in the pipes. There's some big ones under the building"

"Kya, no."

"Dor, we could stop them."

"Kya, you promised me."

But the other girl closed her eyes, stood, and took a stance. She swayed back and forth, back and forth, moving her arms in a way that evoked undulating waves. Dor looked anxiously over the railing, but no one seemed to have noticed Kya. Not yet. A faint groan vibrated the air. Dor looked at Kya, who sweated with the effort. With a sigh, Dor stood and closed her eyes. Even through her fear and frustration, Dor summoned her spellbook and opened it.

Kya's Waterbending depicted Kya mid-movement, long brown hair flowing, blue eyes shining, brown skin glowing, a streamer of water poised at her command. Dor touched the blue-bordered playing card.

She could feel the water. There was a lot of it. The awareness filled her and she added her motion to Kya's. The pressure built. The pipes rumbled. Something, somewhere, snapped. With a crack that echoed over the noise of the place, it burst. Water poured into the building, splashing over the satomobiles and onto the floor. Then there was another, and another, and within moments there was an inch of water on the floor.

Kya put a hand on Dor's arm. "That's good enough. Get us out of here."

Dor nodded. "Right."

The shouting and carrying on from below made her heart race, but she concentrated on the spellbook and it came to her readily.

"Hey look! Up there!"

The crack of teleportation filled her even as a streak of fire blasted past. They stood on the side street outside. Kya hissed with pain.

"What's wrong?" Dor opened her eyes. It was immediately obvious. Kya's left shoulder was burned, the shirt charred away, the skin angry red and blistering fast.

"I'm fine," said Kya. "Let's get out of here."

Dor let Kya lead her down the side street to an alleyway to another side street until finally the pain caught up with her. She collapsed against the side of a building, breathing hard, damp with sweat.

"Let me," said Dor. She called upon the mana at her shoulders, imagined Minwu's Cura, and channeled the power into Kya's shoulder, healing the burn. She hadn't cast so many spells in such quick succession before and she felt exhaustion creeping up her neck. "That might be as much as I can do. If I use too much magic, I might faint from it."

"I think we're well out of it," said Kya, rotating her shoulder gingerly. "But let's not linger."

Before long they were walking into the backyard of the Chang's residence. Dor immediately felt better. Kya stripped off her burned shirt and buried it in the trash bin.

Dor had seen Kya's brassier many times now, but it still made her blush.

They went inside and up to Kya's room and collapsed side by side on the bed. For several minutes, neither of them said anything.

"Well," said Kya eventually. "That was exciting."

Dor sat up and looked away. "Certainly not what I thought was going to happen when you asked me to go to the market with you."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Is that why you invited me? So I could help you attack the Agni Kai? I promised your mother I'd keep you out of trouble. I thought... I thought we were friends."

Kya sat up. "Dor, we are friends. I... I admit I heard rumors about Agni Kai in the area, but I really do like that market and I really did want you to see it. I asked you to come because I thought you'd like it too. Please, you have to believe me."

"What about deciding to flood the place after you promised we'd just look around?"

"It was too good and opportunity..."

"No. You promised me!" The emotion welled in her throat as she voiced her frustration. She feared she would cry in front of Kya.

"Are you going to tell mom?"

Dor sighed. "No."

"Do... do you want to spank me?"

Dor looked at her, surprised. She couldn't fathom spanking anyone, let alone her friend. It was unthinkable. But she remembered she'd asked Minwu to spank her, and she'd told Mrs. Chang she would submit to a spanking. But still, they were both adults, authority figures, Dor was just a girl, like Kya. It wouldn't be appropriate. And yet, the idea made her skin tingle and her heart race and, after all, Kya deserved it.

"You do, don't you?" Kya's voice held a hint of accusation, a hint of playfulness. "You want to spank me."

"No, no. No. That would be inappropriate. Besides, I went along with it."

"But I pushed you to do it. Maybe it's only right. Maybe you should spank my naughty little bottom." Kya's voice went high and playful at the end.

Dor frowned at her. "It's not a game, Kya. We could have gotten hurt. How would I explain this to your parents if that had happened? I... I've never had a home like this and I nearly lost it, lost you, because you just had to poke at a bunch of firebending gangsters."

Kya swallowed and looked down. "I... I'm sorry, Dorothy. I don't want you to be mad at me. If... if you think I deserve a spanking... No, I think I deserve a spanking." Kya stood and pulled her pants down to her knees, then pulled her shorts down as well. Dor stared. Kya had beautifully lithe legs and the tuft of curls growing just below her navel was at eye-level. Dor took a deep breath and the scent of Kya made her heady. She didn't say anything and Kya lay over her lap, stretching out on the bed, her pert, firm bottom ready.

Dor put a hand on Kya's back, but she hesitated. She was certain Kya had earned a spanking, she just wasn't sure she should be the one to give it. It didn't feel right. After all, she had abetted the mischief. If anything, she felt she deserved a spanking too.

"What are you waiting for?" Kya demanded, looking over her shoulder at Dor.

"You're sure?" Dor asked.

Kya nodded firmly.

For so long, Dor had hated and feared spankings, but Minwu had shown her spankings could come from a place of love and protection. She only hoped she could do the same. Heart hammering, breath shaking, Dor raised her right hand. She slapped Kya's bottom, square in the middle of her left cheek. It stung her hand and jolted her chest. Tears sprang to her eyes despite she was on the giving end. She spanked her again, her right cheek this time, and Kya whimpered. She spanked her again and again and again, sharp smacks that bounced her friend's bottom alluringly, slowly painting it from brown to deep pink. She kept up a steady rhythm, pouring her frustration and disappointment with Kya into each spank. She took a deep breath and it was shaky. When she let it go, she could no longer hold back her tears and they slid down her cheeks even as she spanked, watching her friend squirm and yelp and moan from it.

When Kya's whimpering cries were a steady stream and her bottom was a spanked shade of red, and just as hot, Dor stopped. Kya stayed as she was, stretched out on the bed, crying quietly. Dor rubbed the tears from her cheeks and sniffled what remained. Then she rubbed Kya's bottom gently with one hand and her back with the other. Her fingers caught on the strap of Kya's brassier and she ran her fingers along its edge.

Eventually, Kya pushed to her knees.

"Are you crying?" Kya asked as she wiped away her own tears.

Dor blushed. "A little."

Kya laughed, a throaty chuckle, and kissed Dor's cheek. "Thank you."

"For spanking you?"

"For coming with me. For helping me even when you knew better. And yes, for spanking me yourself rather than telling mom. I'm not sure she could handle it if she had to spank me twice in a week."

Dor smiled and turned to kiss Kya's cheek in return, but Kya turned just a bit and the kiss touched the corner of Kya's mouth. Dor blushed and pulled back.

"Sorry. I..."

"It's fine."

"It is?"

"Dor... I was wondering... could I maybe kiss you? For real this time?"

Dor's breath fled and her thoughts scattered. All she could do was nod. Kya slid from the bed to kneel in front of Dor. She put one hand on Dor's waist, and the other on her cheek and leaned in, eyes half-lidded. Their noses bumped and Dor tilted her head to one side and closed the gap.

Dor had read _Jayne Eyre_ and _Pride and Prejudice_ and she still didn't know what a kiss was supposed to be like. She hoped she was doing it right. All she really knew was she felt tingly and faint and uncertain.

When Kya pulled back, she was smiling at Dor, eyes shining. Dor smiled back.

"Was that all right?" Dor asked.

"It's was much more than all right. I wasn't sure you liked me like that."

Dor nodded, but swallowed hard. Back at St. Bridget's there were rumors of girls who kissed, who liked each other more than was proper. It was well known that Sister Mary Margaret saw it a sin for girls to show too much affection for one another, that God required a woman fall in love with a man. She wondered if it was different here.

"Um... Dor? Are you going to let me go? Or... do you want me to kiss you again?"

Dor hadn't realized she'd put her arms around Kya's waist. She let go quickly and Kya stumbled back, laughing. Dor laughed too, a note of hysteria to it. With a sigh, she stood up and felt the exhaustion of the events wash over her. She yawned expansively, stretching her arms above her head.

"You know, mom and dad won't be home for a few more hours. Maybe... do you want to take a nap?"

Dor nodded.

Kya stripped off her brassier with a sigh. Dor expected her to put on pajamas, or at least underwear, but she slid under the blankets nude and Dor's heart raced with excitement, quivered with it. She undressed, folding her clothes neatly with shaking hands, and forewent her nightgown. Kya turned on her side as Dor got under the covers and Dor slid in beside her, the front of her hips firm to Kya's still warm bottom. Kya wiggled, settling in, and sighed contentedly. Dor put her left arm around Kya's waist, just under her breasts. She put her face at Kya's neck and breathed deeply.

Dor didn't know if she dozed, happily floating in a haze of warm fuzziness, feeling her body warm and her loins tingle, her nipples harden and her heart swell. She thought she might have.

She smelled smoke.

It wasn't the good smell of cooking she'd grown used to in the Chang house, but smoke, like something burning that wasn't supposed to be burning.

"What's that?" Kya said dreamily.

Dor snapped out of bed as a horrid thought filled her. She went to the window, still open, and looked out over the backyard. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except that the smell of smoke was stronger. Behind her, Kya got out of bed with a rustle of fabric.

"Is someone there?"

Dor shook her head. "But something's on fire."

They got dressed in a hurry, Dor in her robe from Ivalice, Kya in a pale blue nightgown, and hurried downstairs. There they found the front door on fire. Kya shouted and reacted, pulling water from somewhere in the kitchen and dousing the door. The fire was mostly subdued, but smoke filled the room and they could hear laughing from outside.

Dor recognized a manic shriek in that laughter.

Her blood ran cold.

She sprinted through to the backyard and around front where a knot of men in suits with red ties and hats with red bands stood in the street, laughing. At their center stood Elmira Gulch in a suit, tie, and hat to match.

"Dorothy! There you are. I've been looking all over this city for you. And look at the new friends I've made."

A great wave of water arced from the backyard and doused the front of the house, putting out any lingering flames. Kya hurried around to stand next to Dor, drawing the remaining water off the street.

Elmira stepped forward, grin widening. A red-bordered card flickered through Dor's mind. She'd seen it before, on a rooftop in the futuristic New York City.

Elmira's Flame Javelin

"Catch!" Elmira screeched.

Her spellbook opened in her mind, but the tingle at her neck was subdued. It didn't want to respond to her call. She'd exhausted her mana. Her mind raced as the world around her slowed. A spear of glowing red and yellow flames spun toward her. She pulled hard at her mana and shoved it at her spellbook, She couldn't focus, couldn't choose a spell, and when the javelin struck her chest, her body screamed, her mind shattered, and her world went dark.


	10. Infinite Library, Part 1

The world swam back slowly. Her hearing first.

"If you've killed her, your punishment will be slow." The voice was deep and cultured, careful and clipped, that of a man who'd studied words for a long time.

"Oh, she's fine. She healed herself the moment the javelin hit her."

"Javelin? My standing orders are non-lethal. I need them alive. Especially this one."

Elmira scoffed. "What's so special about her? She's an orphan from a backwater, nothing-plane that barely has any mana."

Her feeling came next. Her whole body was alive with pain, but she couldn't move, couldn't cry out, couldn't react.

"Even if I explained it to you, you wouldn't understand. All you understand is pain and fire."

Elmira made a sound, somewhere between a sneer and a pout. "I thought you liked that about me."

The voices faded away.

Her vision came next. She blinked when she realized she could see beige fabric paneling on the ceiling. One of the panels was of textured glass through which shone a soft white light, filling the room. Tears slid from the corners of her eyes to the hair just above her ears. Her peripheral vision eased into sight and she saw the back of a couch she must be laying on at her right and the top of a bookshelf on her left.

The pain eased, like draining from a bucket with only a pinprick in the bottom. And with it, coherent thought returned. She sat up gingerly, expecting every movement to hurt, but it didn't. She took stock. Her robe had a large charred hole in it, exposing most of her midriff. The skin there was pink and shiny. She sat upon a comfortable, beige-upholstered couch in a small room made of bookshelves.

"Ah, you're awake." It was the careful, cultured voice she'd heard before.

Dor stood and spun about.

A man stood at the entrance to the room, clad in grey slacks and a beige button up shirt with the collar undone and sleeves rolled up. He had a well-groomed beard with a bit of white just below his lip, a pair of academic-looking spectacles, and long brown hair pulled into a ponytail. He held a small stack of clothes and smiled at her innocuously.

"Who are you? Where's Elmira?"

"To answer the second first, Ms. Gulch is off on an assignment. I assure you, you have nothing to fear from her, or anyone else, here. As to the first, my name is Silas Quillon, and I'm the librarian."

His voice put her at ease, but Dor kept her guard up. If he was Elmira's master, she didn't want anything to do with him.

"I see Elmira burned your clothing. I brought you some." He came into the room and set the clothing on a small table by the couch. "The circulation desk is just through there and to your left," he said, gesturing at the entrance. "That's where I'll be when you're ready to talk."

After he left, all Dor could hear was a faint hiss of air.

Dor went to the entrance to the little room. There was no physical door, just way though the bookshelves, either side of which was labeled with a series of numbers. She peeked around the way Mr. Quillon had gestured and found a long, curved hallway of bookshelves filled with books, tagged low on their spines, all neatly shelved. Every once in a while the shelves were broken with another doorway. Several doorways on, the hallway opened into a larger room she could barely make out around the curve of the hallway but most of which was hidden.

Dor turned back to the stack of clothes Mr. Quillon had brought and examined them. A beige button up shirt and matching pleated skirt; a pair of beige, ankle high stockings and slip on shoes; a beige brassier and matching high-cut drawers, much like Kya had worn, but with a stretchy waistband. All the clothes were sized for her. She wondered how Mr. Quillon knew what size clothes to give her. The thought made her skin crawl. She didn't want to put them on, but even more she didn't want to continue wearing the burned robe.

Peeking up and down the hallway again to make sure no one was coming, Dor pulled off the ruined robe, folded it neatly as she could, and pulled on the clothes she'd been provided. They were a perfect fit and comfortable. She picked up the robe and looked again down the curving hallway of bookshelves.

Dor considered fleeing the other way, but she had no idea where she was or how to get anywhere else and felt fairly certain if she tried to planeswalk, she'd end up somewhere else entirely new. Besides, this was an opportunity to find out why Elmira had pursued her. For all she didn't trust him, Mr. Quillon was, so far, much more kind and reasonable than Elmira Gulch. Maybe she could learn something from him.

Steeling herself, Dor walked the way Mr. Quillon had indicated, passing more nooks with identical couches and end tables, until she came into a large, circular room. This room was filled with couches, end tables, desks, and chairs, all neatly arranged, spaciously organized. From the room ran twelve hallways like the one she'd emerged from, equidistant from each other. At the center of the room was a circular desk, hollow in the middle

Mr. Quillon sat at the inside of the desk, a thin tablet propped up in front of him. He looked up as she approached, and smiled benignly.

"Thank you for coming, Dorothy." He stood up and put a black basket with a sort of lining she didn't recognize on the desk. "You may dispose of that unfortunate garment here."

Dor wasn't inclined to keep the robe now it was ruined, but it had been given to her by Minwu, and she didn't like the idea of giving it to Mr. Quillon. Even so, she swallowed her trepidation and threw it away. Mr. Quillon put the wastebasket back under the desk.

"Now. I'm sure you'll have many questions for me."

Dor nodded.

Mr. Quillon gestured behind her as he sat. Dor turned to look and found a chair at a nearby desk. She pulled it up to the circular desk and sat across from him. He steepeld his fingers and looked at her patiently.

Dor cleared her throat. "Why did you send Elmira after me?"

Mr. Quillon frowned, and Dor kept herself from shrinking back.

"Ms. Gulch is new to my organization. I thought I could teach her to control her impulses. I fear I was incorrect. I am sorry for what she did to you. But, to answer your question, I send my agents through the multiverse to find young people whose planeswalker spark is about to ignite. Sometimes my calculations are off and their sparks do not ignite and my agents come back alone. But usually I am correct, the target does spark, and when they end up someplace wildly new and different, they are grateful when my agents find them and explain to them the nature of planeswalking and of the multiverse."

"You sent Elmira to help me?"

"I'm afraid the choice of Ms. Gulch was an error on my part. I assure you, it will not happen again."

Dor nodded. She wasn't sure she believed him, but talking with Mr. Quillon put her at ease. "I have another question."

He nodded. "Of course."

"How do you know my name? How did you find me?"

Mr. Quillon smiled, pride evident. He picked up the tablet propped on his desk, tapped at it, then brushed his finger across it with a dramatic flair. Colored lights sprang from the tablet to the air and Dor reacted by springing to her feet and taking a defensive stance. She needn't have worried. The light formed itself into a three-dimensional map.

"I have created a spell that trawls the multiverse and a second spell that recognizes a lifeform with the spark for planeswalking and a third spell that calculates how likely that person is to have their spark ignite. This is the result."

Dor stared at the slowly rotating map of lights. Most of them were a pale, off white, almost pink, but some pulsed with one color or another. None of it meant anything to her.

"Here, allow me to demonstrate." Mr. Quillon tapped at his tablet and the map shifted, then narrowed upon a single point of light, pulsing yellow, that grew bigger as though rushing toward them. When the sphere of light would have grown too large for the space, it turned translucent, like looking through a window. The image showed them a top-down view of a neighborhood of houses.

Dor felt a faint sense of vertigo.

"Yes, here we are, a version of your world, Earth. There are more versions of Earth than any other plane of existence in all the multiverse. Most of them have some form of supernatural activity: magic, psionics, metahumans or the like. This one is known for its monsters."

The window lowered slowly as Mr. Quillon spoke, focusing on a particular house and its backyard. Soon Dor saw a girl cavorting in the grass, playing some game by herself. Dor wondered if Mr. Quillon had observed her like this. She shivered.

"Even now, the various world governments of this Earth are developing the robots they'll need to battle the monsters. In the meantime my spells have found Marnie Kim, an eleven-year-old girl. She has the spark and lives in a fairly dangerous world."

"Wait," said Dor. "This is a version of Earth? Do I exist on this Earth? Do my parents?"

"Ah. Clever. Very good. Unfortunately, no. This Earth is in the year twenty thirty-five. It could be there was a version of you and your parents and that there are birth records. Some Earths are parallel as opposed to alternate. My guess, though, is there isn't. We can look later if you'd like."

Dor considered. Now she had the potential opportunity, she wasn't sure she wanted to know. What if her parents turned out to be awful people?

"Maybe later." She turned back to the window.

"Very well." Mr. Quillon returned to his explanation. "The closer a person with the potential is to becoming a planeswalker, the further along the spectrum the lights glow: red at unlikely, purple at highly likely. You were blue leaning to purple when I sent Elmira." Mr. Quillon tapped at his tablet and the vision faded.

Dor turned back to Mr. Quillon. "I have one more question. Now I'm here, what do you intend to do with me?"

Mr. Quillon smiled his bland smile. "Well, Dorothy, I suppose that is up to you. Some of the young planeswalkers I assist choose to work with me on some of my acquisition projects."

"Acquisitions?"

"Items. Come. I will show you." He stood and walked to a section of counter that he lifted on cleverly hidden hinges, allowing her to enter the circle. At the center of the circle was a railing and a set of stairs spiraling down.

Mr. Quillon gestured for her to go first and though it made her shiver to have him at her back, she began down the stairs. She found herself in a large, circular room to the match the one above. Instead of couches and desks, there were display cases. She put her hands behind her back carefully, remembering Twilight Sparkle's warning about magical items, and approached one of the display cases.

The case had a thick, wooden base smoothly polished and finely detailed in whorls and patterns. It was topped with a glass cover several inches tall and held together with metal bindings at the corners. Within the case were six brightly colored boxes: from left to right they were blue, pink, red, green, yellow, and black. Upon a velvet cushion within each was a golden coin. Embossed upon each coin was the bust of an animal. Two of them she recognized, the elephant and the great cat. The rest were strange beasts of mythology she'd not read.

"The six power coins," said Mr. Quillon, his voice taking on a professorial tone. "Supposedly destroyed by Rito Revolto in Angel Grove in nineteen ninty-six. The thing about power coins, though, is, given time, they will rebuild themselves. At least, according to some theories."

Dor turned. Mr. Quillon was closer than she'd thought and she took a few steps to the side.

"It seems the theories are correct," said Dor

Mr. Quillon smiled and nodded. "Sometimes." He gestured to his left, at another display case. "You enjoy reading. I'm sure you've heard of Excalibur."

Dor's eyebrows shot up. "The sword of King Arthur?"

"Many think the sword in the stone was Excalibur."

"But that's the one that proved he was king," Dor said. "It was a different sword." She hurried to the display case he'd indicated. Under the glass, upon a bed of samite, lay a long-handled great sword. It was smooth and polished, gleaming in the light of the room.

"Precisely, very good. Though, it should be noted, some versions of the story conflate the two."

"How did you get it?" Dor asked. "You said there are multiple versions of Earth. Does King Arthur exist on one of them? Are there multiple versions of King Arthur?"

Mr. Quillon nodded. "Yes and yes. Very good, Ms. Dorothy. I knew you'd impress me."

Dor blushed, pleased despite herself.

"The multiverse contains every universe. Sometimes that includes multiple multiverses. Sub-multiverses if you like. Some versions of Earth are parallel. That is, they contain largely the same history and the same people. Some versions are alternate, a major event will have come out differently like Napoleon uniting all of Eurasia, or the Nazis winning World War II, or the moon having never been destroyed."

Dor bit her tongue on her questions.

"So some versions, most in fact, have some version of King Arthur. In most versions, Excalibur is returned to the Lady of the Lake upon King Arthur's death. In one of those versions, I convinced that rueful nymph to loan me Excalibur."

"And she let you?"

"I can be extraordinarily convincing." Mr. Quillon gestured at another display case. It was empty. "This is the one I'd meant for Ravenclaw's Diadem."

Dor looked at him, eyes going wide. "Is it silver with a big blue stone?"

"That's the one."

"I've seen it," said Dor. "It was in the Everfree Forest, on Equestria."

"I thought as much."

"How did you know?"

"As I said, your light was blue to purple, which meant I was keeping an eye on you. At the same time, I was researching one of my acquisitions, which is vastly different from how I research potential planeswalkers. For that, I use the Infinite Library. Every story ever written, every story that will be written, every version of every story, can be found, somewhere, in the Infinite Library.

"To give you an example: Mr. Harry Potter. Harry Potter was born on a version of Earth on July 31st, 1980. Soon thereafter he was marked for death by the dark wizard Voldemort. But, when Voldemort tried to kill him, the spell backfired, inadvertently turning baby Potter into a horcrux. A horcrux is much like a lich's phylactery, it holds a piece of a being's soul and so long as that piece of soul is alive, so is the being."

"That sounds dreadful," said Dor.

"Oh, it is. I won't tell you how it ends in case you decide you want to read it. Pertinent to this discussion is the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the founders of Hogwarts School of Wizardry. Voldemort stole the artifact from Hogwarts and turned it into a horcrux. Harry Potter, in his quest to defeat Voldemort, had to find and destroy all the horcruxes. But the diadem was not created to be a horcrux; it had a different intended purpose, granting its wearer enhanced wisdom. As an academic, I, of course, am interested in such an item.

"But I couldn't simply send one of my agents to Hogwarts to take it before Voldemort could turn it into a horcurx. Can you think of why?"

Dor considered. "Well... You learned about the diadem in a book about Mr. Potter. Right?"

Mr. Quillon nodded.

"And in the book, the diadem played an important part. But if you take the diadem before it can become part of the story..." Dor hesitated, uncertain.

"Go on."

"If you take it before it becomes part of the story, maybe it doesn't end up in the story at all and you never read about it. But if you never read about it then you can't acquire it. But if you don't acquire it, then it remains in the story. So..."

Mr. Quillon clapped his hands together happily. "Thus, a paradox. The Infinite Library detests a paradox. One of the fundamental rules of utilizing it is not to disrupt causality. Fortunately there are parallel universes.

"The Harry Potter series was written by J.K. Rowling, and those seven books are considered the Prime Universe of the Wizarding World. The films based on the books are considered Prime Beta. After that are the secondary universes, the video games and stage plays and whatnot. Tertiary universes are those based upon fan works. The closer a fan work is to the Prime Canon, the more stable it is. My aim is to find a universe that's stable, but not too stable. The Infinite Library is much more forgiving of potential paradox in fan fiction.

"It took some doing, but I found a tertiary universe focused on Rowena Ravenclaw, hundreds of years before Harry Potter was to be born, in which her diadem would never be found by Voldemort because the Grey Lady never told him about it. And so, after Ravenclaw's daughter stole and hid the diadem in a hollow tree in an Albanian forest, it's free to be acquired. Thank Dominia for fan fiction."

"So, why didn't you?"

"That's where you come in, Ms. Dorothy. I was keeping an eye on you at the same time I was finding this particular version of that Albanian forest. Then your spark ignited and there was a..." he shrugged with one hand, "A glitch, I suppose. And that portion of the Albanian forest planeshifted into the Everfree Forest for you and Twilight Sparkle to find. I must admit, I was very put out with you, young lady." His tone grew stern as he explained.

Dor felt her backside tingle apprehensively.

Mr. Quillon sighed. "Don't worry. I'm not going to spank you an accident that wasn't your fault. I do, however, to answer your question, have a request."

Dor grit her teeth and nodded. She didn't want to help Mr. Quillon collect magical artifacts, but here, in his library, she didn't feel she was in a position to defy him. Her skin tingled nervously.

"Research Ravenclaw's diadem. Not much is said of it in the books, only what's necessary to the plot. But if you can go to the source and gather as much research about the item as you can, then perhaps I can find another tertiary universe to exploit."

"The source?"

"The Prime Universe of the Wizarding World," Mr. Quillon expounded.

"What about the Infinite Library and paradoxes?"

Mr. Quillon waved his hand dismissively. "You won't need to worry about that. I'll send you to after the Wizarding War. It's a quiet few years by all accounts. There'll be no causality to disrupt. There will, however, be some preparation needed..." He trailed off as his thoughts caught up to him.

Dor waited patiently, but his gaze was fixed somewhere far off.

"Mr. Quillon? Should I... um..."

He frowned at her before putting on his bland smiled. "You'll need a place to stay while I write a suitable letter. Come on, up you get," he gestured at the staircase.

Dor went up the spiral stairs deciding as she went that she would not point out she hadn't agreed to do as he asked. She felt vulnerable here, in his library, in the clothes he had given her. She didn't want to do anything to incite his ire. He hadn't done anything to suggest he might hurt her, but there was that overheard conversation as she'd woken on the couch. She felt he was putting on an act for her.

Mr. Quillon led her down one of the twelve curved hallways off the large circular room, indistinguishable from any of the others as far as she could tell, until they came to a sharp left turn and up another set of stairs.

At the top of the stairs was a common room with a hall leading off from the left. There were three couches, the same she'd seen in every reading nook, and a low, flat table. The walls were all a pale brown, the ceilings the same beige with textured glass panels for light. It was neat and tidy, as though no one had ever used it.

A girl, wearing the same button up shirt as Dor, came into the room from the hall. She froze when she saw them. Her expression, while not exactly fearful, was certainly cautious.

"Ah, Ms. Hook. This is Dorothy. She's our newest member. If I'm not mistaken, room 107 is empty yes?"

Ms. Hook was a tall girl with broad shoulders. She had plain brown hair pulled back in a simple tail and a crooked nose. Though her shirt was the same as Dor's, she wore a pair of loose pants tied close at the ankles. They were dark grey and had likely once been black. She wasn't wearing socks or shoes.

She nodded once. "Aye, sir."

"Ms. Dorothy will be taking it. Show her the way, will you?"

Ms. Hook nodded again. "Aye sir."

"Off you get then, Dorothy. I will send for you when I'm ready."

Mr. Quillon smacked her bottom before turning down the stairs. Dor grunted in quiet surprise. It had been a mild spank, as far as spanks went, yet it made her uneasy, ill almost. If he had spied on her as he had spied on Marnie Kim, perhaps he had seen her spanked at the orphanage.

Ms. Hook smirked. "I'm Jill. So you're the new one, huh?"

Dor nodded.

"The others are all out and about, so introductions will have to be later. Come on then."

She led Dor down the one hallway from the common room. The walls here were also plain and bare, painted the same pale brown. There were doors on either side marked sequentially, odds on the left starting with 101, evens on the right, starting with 102. It wasn't had to find 107.

Jill gestured. "The doors don't lock. Q doesn't like the idea that we might try to lock him out and he has a tendency to come in unannounced. So... there's that I guess." She slapped Dor's shoulder entirely too hard. "Good luck, new girl." Jill ambled back down the hall.

Dor entered 107 and closed the door behind her. She sat in the center of the room, closed her eyes, and pictured the room in her mind. The spellbook appeared in her lap, but she didn't open it. The multiverse warmed in her chest, but she didn't reach for it. She knew Mr. Quillion could find her wherever she might flee.

And that bothered her. He didn't seem dangerous, and he'd apologized for Elmira, but Dor couldn't bring herself to trust him. Something about him felt off. Perhaps it was his smile. Perhaps it was the way he collected items. Perhaps it was the way he collected people. Perhaps it was the way he'd smacked her bottom. It had only stung, but it had an air of familiarity, the way one might pat a dog, or perhaps remind an errant child to behave.

Certainly she didn't trust him the way she'd trusted others on her unexpected journey. Thinking of her friends made her chest pang. Though she'd only barely met her, Dor missed Twilight Sparkle, her kind smile and gentle humor. She missed Jubilee and her pugnacious confidence. She missed Minwu, her warm smiles and stern looks. She missed Li and his quiet companionship. And, perhaps most especially, she missed the Changs, being part of that family, even though it'd only been six days. She missed Kya, having the strength and warmth of her friend beside her.

Only hours ago at most, Dor had spanked her friend, had lain with her loins next to Kya's hot bottom, had held her and breathed in her scent. She had questioned everything she'd learned from the sisters about what was appropriate between girls.

And now she were gone. They were all gone.

Finally, with nothing to do and no one to talk to, Dor slipped off her shoes, pulled back the covers, and lay on the bed. Mindful of Ms. Hook's warning, she didn't undress in case Mr. Quillon decided to call upon her. The soft, white light of the room was pervasive, even after she'd closed her eyes, so Dor put her arm over them to block it out.

When the door slammed open, Dor sprang to her feet, falling into a defensive stance, spellbook open in her mind, yellow, pink, and blue sparks streaking at the interloper

"Fuck!" Elmira staggered back and crashed into the wall opposite the door. Dor stood, ready to hit her again, but Elmira held her hands up, looking this way and that through wide, unseeing eyes. "Stop" she shouted. "I'm here to fetch you for Quillon."

Dor stopped short. What had he been thinking sending Elmira for her? Or maybe Elmira was lying. That seemed likely. Raucous laughter from down the hallway stayed her hand. Elmira slid down the wall to sit, hands still outstretched, eyes still wide and unseeing.

Jill Hook stuck her hands around the doorframe. "Don't shoot. We come in peace."

"What's going on?" said Dor.

"Q is ready for you. He sent us to come get you."

"Yeah," said Elmira, louder than necessary, shaking her head and blinking rapidly. "Yeah, what she said."

Jill grabbed Elmira by a hand. Elmira squeaked as she was pulled to her feet, then stumbled until she could lean into the wall. It was strange seeing Elmira so vulnerable. Dor knew she shouldn't, but she felt mild joy in it.

"All right then," said Dor.

Elmira took a deep breath, shook her head again, then blinked at Dor blearily. "What the fuck was that?"

"You burst into my room unannounced. What did you expect?"

"She has a point," said Jill.

Elmira growled. "I won't forget this, Dorothy."

Dor clung desperately to any bit of confidence she could muster. She tried not to let fear show.

"Let's go, ladies," said Jill. "You lead the way, Elmira. I'll stay between you and your new best friend."

Dor followed Jill down the hall and through the common room to the stairs. It was a short walk down the curved hallway to the large, circular room where Mr. Quillon still sat behind his circular desk.

"Ah, excellent. Dorothy, Elmira, I'm sending you to Hogwarts School of Wizardry, circa twenty oh-one." He held a folded piece of paper out to each of them.

"You're sending us both?" said Dor.

"It's always good to have a backup plan," said Mr. Quillon. "Now, when you arrive at the school, you must immediately find the library and hand this letter to Madam Irma Pince. She will help you in your research of Ravenclaw's Diadem. Do you understand?" He held a folded envelope of beige paper out to both of them.

Elmira sighed. "I hate research projects."

"I'm well aware," said Mr. Quillon. "Your job will be to protect Dorothy."

"Oh, so I'm protecting her now?" said Elmira.

"What do I need protecting from?" Dor asked. She took the letter

Mr. Quillon shrugged. "Hard to say. Hogwarts is secure, but not always safe."

Dor looked at Elmira who sneered at her.

"I've already calibrated the teleporter." Mr. Quillion held a blue box with a silver cover out to Elmira who snatched it up as though worried Dor might try to take it. Elmira turned away from the group and took a few steps away before pressing the button.

A white line of light cut the space before them and rotated slowly to form a door of light. Elmira gestured.

"After you, Dorothy."

Dor took a breath, grit her teeth, and plunged through.


	11. Hogwarts, Part 1

The portal didn't feel the way planeswalking did. Her teeth were on edge and her skin itched. There was none of the warmth that filled her chest when she planeswalked.

Dor staggered into the great hall of Hogwarts School of Wizardry. The room was immense. Four long tables stood lengthwise down the room. At the far end, upon a raised dais, was another long table oriented widthwise, the head table. Above her, floated thick, white candles, enough to light the room, and above that the great arched ceiling faded into the pale blue of a morning sky. The room was filled, each long table packed with students in black robes over school uniforms. The head table hosted an eclectic group of men and women in eclectic robes.

Only the few students near her in the center of the hall noticed her. They started, agog. Then a woman at the head table, tall and thin and severe, wearing a pair of square spectacles, stood, and the hall quieted. The woman focused her gaze on Dor and the rest of the great hall did the same.

"How did you gain entrance to this castle?" the thin woman demanded. She had a distinctly British accent and a firm tone to rival Sister Mary Margaret. Her voice filled the room and any hint that anyone might not be paying attention evaporated.

"I... I'm sorry to intrude. I didn't mean to. I'm not from here, but I don't mean any harm." Dor clutched her letter nervously. She hesitated to bring it up. She didn't know what it said and still didn't trust Mr. Quillon. The woman fixed her with an intense gaze. The silence of the dining hall hung on that gaze. Dor felt her throat go dry.

"What is your name?"

"Dor... er... Dorothy. Alice Wendy. Dor's cheeks reddened as she stumbled over her own name.

The woman turned her head slightly while keeping her gaze on Dor. "Horace, if you would please, fetch the Sorting Hat."

"Of course, headmistresss," said a large man with a big, bushy moustache. He got up from the table and hurried through a side door near the staff table.

Dor felt her blood run cold. What was the Sorting Hat? Why would it be fetched in this situation? Was she about to be questioned in front of the whole of this school? Was to be punished for intruding?

"If you truly mean us no harm, the Sorting Hat will know," said the woman. "Come sit here, please." Though the headmistress had said please, it was not a request. She withdrew a wand from her pocket and flicked it precisely. A stool popped from thin air and clattered to the floor.

Everyone in the Hogwarts dining hall stared at Dor as she walked down the center aisle of the great hall, her slippered feet silent on the stone floor. She couldn't make out details of the people around her, it was all a blur. She thought she'd pass out for certain. She swallowed hard and stepped up to the head table and sat upon the stool, staring out at the students without really seeing them.

The crowd of students murmured, like wind over the plain. Dor took a slow, deep breath, and felt her shoulders tingle.

It wasn't long before the man with the bushy moustache returned, carrying a dusty, battered old hat. He approached Dor and the headmistress. The old woman gave him a nod, and the Sorting Hat was set upon her head, falling over her eyes, plunging her into darkness.

A flurry of images flashed through her mind: her earliest days at the orphanage, learning to read, being scolded for sharing her outlandish imagination, her many, many spankings.

 _"Hmm... not particularly courageous are you?"_

Dor started at the voice of the Sorting Hat in her ear. She griped the stool beneath her. A new set of images flashed before her, the images of her journey thus far, her adventure with Twilight Sparkle, running through alleyways with Jubilee, working to heal the wounded with Minwu, living with the Changs.

 _"Not very ambitious either. You're smart enough, good imagination, but... but you've a loyal heart, and it will serve you well, Dorothy Alice Wendy."_

Aloud, to the gathered, the Sorting Hat shouted "Hufflepuff!" _"Let them figure that one out,"_ it muttered smugly just before it was whipped off her head. The assembled students whispered; the susurrus filled the dining hall.

Dor looked up, fearing the Headmistress of Hogwarts would again fix her with a fearsome gaze. Instead, the severe woman's glare was for the Sorting Hat.

"I don't... I'm not..."

"Hush. We'll sort that out later," the woman said quietly. Then she turned to the head table. "Pomona, she's been claimed for Hufflepuff. This is irregular, but not without precedence. It's your house and your decision."

A short, round woman with curly grey hair stood and looked Dor up and down before giving a small smile. "Helga Hufflepuff believed in hospitality for those in need, strangers and friends alike. She welcomed all comers. I'd be remiss if I turned this girl away, especially when the Sorting Hat has made it clear there's a place for her here."

And that settled it.

The short round woman came around the head table and held a hand out to Dor. Dor took it and let the woman lead her to one of the long tables. "I am Professor Pamona Sprout, head of House Hufflepuff and Herbology teacher here at Hogwarts. I get the impression a lot of that won't mean anything to you?"

Dor swallowed hard and shook her head.

"Well, don't worry, dear. We'll get you sorted after breakfast. You look about twelve years old, is that right?"

"Um... actually..."

Professor Sprout turned her attention to the students at a nearby table. "Isabel, would you take Dorothy to the second years' room in Hufflepuff basement after breakfast? The house elves will already be setting up her bed and uniforms. Then take her to the library please." She looked at Dor. "I'll meet with you there, dear."

A dark-skinned girl whose hair was so crinkly it poofed from her head moved aside to make room for her. Dor sat, as nervous about joining a bunch of kids she'd never met a she'd been about facing down a gang of firebenders.

"I'm Isabel Thatcher. This is Aelf Erin and Sandra Morales." Isabel held her hand out and Dor took it firmly.

Aelf Erin was a blonde with bright blue eyes and a scattering of freckles to match Dor's. Sandra Morales was a brunette girl with large brown eyes and dimples. Both shook Dor's hand heartily.

"We're the second year girls of Hufflepuff. Didn't expect to gain a fourth," Sandra said.

"Are you friendly?" Aelf asked, her voice high and lilting. "I was go glad when Isabel and Sandy turned out to be so nice."

Dor didn't know how to respond, but Isabel intervened. "I'm sure she's friendly. The Sorting Hat wouldn't have put her in Hufflepuff if she wasn't friendly."

"Where do you come from?" Sandra asked, wide eyes genuinely curious. "You sound American. I've never heard of an American attending Hogwarts before."

"Are you Muggle born?" asked someone else at the table.

"Did you get a letter?"

"Can you already do magic?"

More and more of the students at the Hufflepuff table leaned in, asking questions and waiting for answers.

Isabel stood up, standing on the bench. "All right, that's enough. She hasn't even had breakfast and you know how seriously we Hufflpuffs take our breakfast. Leave her alone. There'll be plenty of time to pester Dorothy with questions at dinner." She winked down at Dor who smiled, grateful. And to Dor's surprise the other Hufflepuff students left her be.

Isabel plopped back on her seat. "You hungry, Dorothy?"

Dor nodded and looked at the food presented on the table. There was pitchers of orange juice and chilled milk, pots of tea and coffee. There were steaming rolls and still-sizzling bacon and piles of scrambled eggs. There were pots of butter and jam and jelly.

"You can call me Dor, if you like." Dor said as she poured herself a cup of coffee and took a helping of bacon and eggs. Back at St. Bridget's bacon was a precious commodity hoarded by the sisters. The food was nothing like what she'd had at the Changs, but the wealth of it, and the easy comradery of the Hufflepuff table, made her teary-eyed. She took a deep breath over her coffee before having a sip.

Dor examined the students around her as the babble of conversation washed over her and the food filled her. There were all kinds of people here, of all shapes and colors, all talking and eating and laughing together. The orphans and sisters at St. Bridget's had all been of fair European stock. Dor hadn't even thought about how she must have stood out with the Changs or even in the military camp in Ivalice. Here she only stood out thanks to her beige clothes among the black robes, a dusty dove among corbies.

The Hufflepuffs wore charcoal grey vests with black and yellow trim over white shirts and black and yellow ties all under a black robe with yellow lining and the Hufflepuff crest, a badger, on the left breast.

After breakfast, Isabel took her hand and led her from the great hall, Aelf and Sandra following close behind like an honor guard. They passed through the entry hall and down a set of twisting hallways, along which were framed paintings and, to Dor's amazement, the beings depicted were moving about. Dor would have stayed to gawk, but Isabel led her to a set of stairs leading down two flights to a basement, fronted by a round door with a central doorknob. The common room put her in mind of the coziest home she'd ever read of. There were large, cushiony chairs and couches, an eclectic array of tables and desks, bookshelves and hanging plants, thick rugs and tapestries. One corner was home to a set of bookshelves overflowing with books.

Down a wood-paneled hallway lit with burnished copper lanterns, Isabel pushed open a door with a carved wooden plaque reading "Second-Years". Inside was a cozy room with two four-poster beds on the left and two on the right, each accompanied by their own freestanding wardrobes. At the foot of the room was a large fireplace with a polished, carved wooden mantel piece. A round table stood in the center of the room holding a pot with a nice smelling flowery plant at its center.

"There's already a fourth bed," Aelf said with quiet delight.

"House elves are extraordinarily good at their jobs," said Sandra.

"What are house elves?" Dor asked.

All three girls gave her a funny look.

"You muggle born?" Sandra asked.

"It's okay if you are," said Aelf.

"Uh..." Dor shrugged. "I'm an orphan."

"There will be time for explanations later," said Isabel. "Let's get you to the library so we can get to class. Change into your uniform so we can get going."

Dor opened the wardrobe and found it filled with Hogwarts school uniforms in her size, complete with black and yellow ties and scarves and socks and brassieres and elastic-waisted drawers: black with yellow trim and yellow with black. There was even a pale yellow nightie.

Dor changed quickly. She wasn't terribly comfortable taking off her underwear in front of a trio of girls she'd never met, but neither did she want to keep wearing those given to her by Mr. Quillon. She dressed in the school uniform and felt more at ease, but when she got to the tie, she was stymied.

"Here," said Isabel. She took the tie, looped it over Dor's head and tied it for her. "Do you prefer it loose or tight?"

"Loose, please."

When she pulled on the black robe with the Hufflepuff crest, the girls led her out of the basement and to a massive stairwell packed with moving paintings.

"You'll have to watch out for the stairs," said Isabel. "They change without warning."

"I'm already lost," said Dor. "How will I ever find my way around?"

"You'll get used to it," said Sandra.

They got her to the library where Professor Sprout was already waiting for her.

"Good luck," said Sandra.

"You'll be fine," Aelf said.

"Professor Sprout is one of the nicest professors here," Isabel said. "But Madam Pince can be a bit..."

"Mean?" said Aelf.

"Bitchy," said Sandra.

"Intense," said Isabel, shooting Sandra a look. Sandra blushed.

The girls left and Dor went to where Professor Sprout stood talking with a tall, thin woman with a large, hooked nose and papery skin.

Dor only barely noticed. She was struck by the library.

The library at St. Bridget's had been a single room with a desk, chair, and two bookshelves. There had been fifty-three books last time she'd counted. This library was immense. It stretched as far as she could see, almost as though the twists and turns of the shelving was larger than could reasonably be held by a room in the castle. Compared to the Infinite Library, the library at Hogwarts, while neat and orderly, was much more homey. The Infinite Library had seemed sterile and bland and lifeless. This library felt lived in and used, if meticulous. She felt at ease here, rather than on edge.

"Here she is. Dorothy, this is Madam Pince, the Hogwarts librarian."

Dor brought her attention to the two women.

Madam Pince fixed Dor with a judging look.

"Let's find a place to sit and you can tell us what brings you to Hogwarts."

"My office?" Madam Pince suggested, her voice thin but hard. Madam Pince led them to a small room off the entry of the library. It was a square room with a half wall on one side so as to allow her to see into the library. Her desk stood at the door, making an L with the half wall and was as meticulous as the rest of the library. Every bit of wall space was covered in bookshelves and stuffed with books, except for one which held neatly ordered items: pots of glue and ink, brushes and quills, brightly colored ribbons and other items she was unfamiliar with.

Madam Pince sat in her desk chair while offering a pair of high-backed well-cushioned chairs Dor would have loved to curl up in to read late into a night. As she sat, Dor could not help but notice, leaning in a corner behind Madam Pince's desk, was a long-handled, wooden paddle. The sight of it made her chest clench and she had to force herself to take a deep breath.

"All right now, dear," said Professor Sprout. "If you would please, tell us who you are, where you're from, and why you're here."

Dor considered. She'd been sent here to research Ravenclaw's Diadem so Mr. Quillon could steal it from a parallel plane of existence. It seemed a poor way to make her introduction. Instead she decided to start at the beginning. She told them briefly of the orphanage, of Elmira Gulch, and of falling off the roof. She told them of Equestria and described the diadem.

Madam Pince scoffed. "That's impossible."

"Which part?" said Professor Sprout. "The part about traveling through planes of existence, or part about the talking purple unicorn?"

"The part about the diadem, Pamona," said Madam Pince, unappreciative of the other woman's light tone. "We're now all well aware what happened to that particular item."

"Yes," said Dor, earning a stern look from Madam Pince and a small smile from Professor Sprout. "I'm getting to that." She told them of New York City, Jubilee, and Elmira's pursuit. She told them of Ivalice and the War of the Lions. She told them of Republic City and the Agni Kai and the Chang family. Finally she told them of the Infinite Library, parallel planes of existence, and Mr. Quillon's request. She pulled the letter, now well crinkled, from the inside pocket of her new Hogwarts robes and handed it to Madam Pince.

"I don't know what it says. He said it was for you, that you would understand. But, I'm not interested in helping Mr. Quillon getting his hands on any version of the diadem. I don't know what he'd do with it. Perhaps he's just a collector, but..." she shuddered.

Professor Sprout cleared her throat. "In my experience, dear, it's best to trust your instincts about some people. You may not always know why you have misgivings, and you should always allow them to prove you wrong if they can, but oftentimes those initial feelings are spot on."

Madam Pince took the letter from Dor and placed it on her desk. She opened a desk drawer, removed a thin, straight wand, and a pair of smoky-lensed spectacles with golden rims. She put the glasses on and tapped the paper with her wand. The folded paper smoked faintly and crackled with electricity. Madam Pince tapped the paper again, hurriedly, and it stopped. She looked over her glasses at Professor Sprout.

"Pamona, this letter has been enchanted with a jinx. Shall I destroy it or read it?"

"Did this Mr. Quillon seem a persistent man to you?" Professor Sprout asked Dor.

"He sent Elmira to chase after me on three different planes of existence. Seems persistent to me."

Professor Sprout nodded. "If you're willing, Irma, I'd like to be able to tell the headmistress what's going on."

Holding the paper so neither Dor nor Professor Sprout could see the writing, Madam Pince unfolded it, skimmed it, and folded it again. She then withdrew a wooden box from her desk, put the paper inside, closed the lid and tapped it with her wand. The seam flashed white. Madam Pince took off the spectacles.

"The letter is simple enough. It is addressed to me by name. Mr. Silas Quilon requests I assist you in a research project, assuming I will help as we're both librarians. The jinx is coercive. It's meant to compel any who reads it to do as it says."

"I didn't know," said Dor. "Honestly."

Madam Pince looked at Professor Sprout skeptically.

"The Sorting Hat would not have put her in Hufflepuff if she weren't honest."

"A fair point," said Madam Pince. "So, what then, shall we do with her?"

Professor Sprout looked at Dor. "Your name is not in the book, which means you're not technically a Hogwarts student. But the Sorting Hat claimed you for Hufflepuff which mean you are, technically, a student. It is rare, but not unprecedented. And precedent dictates an independent study, which is why I asked you to meet here in the library."

Dor had never thought she'd go to school, and the idea appealed to her. Especially a magical school where the paintings and staircases moved, and the meals were feats, and the other girls were kind. Going to school in a magical castle was a dream come true.

"I'd be thrilled to. Ecstatic. Overjoyed." said Dor.

"And what would you study?" asked Madam Pince. "I'll not have you wandering aimlessly about my library."

Dor considered. The opportunity to study whatever she wanted was daunting. She considered what she wanted most in the multiverse: to see her friends again, to tell them she'd not abandoned them. To see Kya again. To ask if, perhaps, she could have another kiss.

"I'm not very good at planeswalking," Dor said. "If it would be all right, I'd like very much to study that: the nature of the multiverse and how one might travel through it with purpose."

Madam Pince pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Well now. That sounds interesting indeed. Very well, I accept your premise for independent study and will guide you in your research. As proof of you study, you'll need to write a term paper."

"What's a term paper?"

"An essay explaining what you've learned and what conclusions, if any, you've come to, due at the end of the term. I can teach you how to write it."

Dor smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

"You're quite welcome, Ms... I'm sorry, I don't believe I've heard your last name."

Dor blushed and looked away. "I'm an orphan. I don't have a last name." She cleared her throat, embarrassed.

"There's no reason to be ashamed, young lady," said Madam Pince, her stern voice taking an edge of softness. "As a matter of fact, in this regard, I consider you most fortunate."

"To not have a last name?" said Dor.

"Indeed. It means you have the opportunity to choose whatever last name you feel suits you. Few have such an opportunity."

Dor's eyes widened. Madam Pince was right. There was nothing and no one preventing her from choosing a last name. It was worth considering.

There were study rooms scattered throughout the library. Madam Pince took her to one at what seemed to be the very back of the library.

"I have found this one to have the least amount of distractions," Madam Pince said, opening the door.

With a flick of her wrist, Madam Pince lit the lanterns on the wall. The room was paneled in dark wood. The room was still dim, but it was close and inviting. In the center of the room was a square table and a pair of simple chairs. In one corner was a high-backed, cushioned chair suitable for curling up in and reading for hours at a time. Against one wall was an empty book case. It reminded her strongly of the room she and Twilight had used, of the room in her mind.

Madam Pince looked at her. "Unless you prefer something else?

"No. No, it's perfect"

"Have you any supplies?" Madam Pince asked.

"None."

"Well then, we'll need to fetch some."

After several trips back and forth, the table was stacked with sheets of paper, pots of ink, and quills. Dor had never written with a quill before. At the orphanage they used charcoal pencils when they were afforded writing utensils at all.

"What about a wand?" asked Madam Pince. "I should have thought to ask earlier."

Dor shook her head. "Do I need one for research?"

"Perhaps. Is wandless magic common where you come from?"

"Until recently I'd have said magic doesn't exist at all where I come from. But the places I've been, no one used a wand. Minwu used a staff once for a particularly powerful and important spell."

"It would be interesting to see if you can use a wand," said Madam Pince. "Perhaps I'll arrange it."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of students moving through the halls.

"I suppose it's time for lunch," said Madam Pince. "Follow the crowds and you'll find your way to the great hall. I will see you afterward."

Dor attached herself to the back of a group of students who paid her no mind and followed them to the great hall. There she spied Aelf and Sandra and Isabel. They waved her over and she joined them.

"So how was it?" asked Sandra.

"Are you staying?" asked Aelf.

Dor nodded. "I'll be doing an independent study with Madam Pince."

Sandra hissed in sympathy. "Tough break, girl."

"No," said Dor. "It's... I mean, I understand, she seems pretty strict, but I'll get to spend all day in the library doing research."

And that's a good thing?" said Sandra.

"I love to read and I never thought I'd get to go to school, so... yes."

Sandra chuckled and shook her head.

"So what did you guys do?" Dor asked.

"Transfiguration first off, then potions." Said Isabel.

"Professor Slughorn's so funny," said Aelf. "Today we made burping potions."

Lunch arrived then, appearing upon the long table as though by magic. Which it was, Dor reminded herself. There were cold sandwiches and hot soup, chopped vegetables and rolls, pitchers of lemonade and milk. Dor passed a companionable lunch with the three Hufflepuff second years, then asked them to show her back to the library.

When she returned, Madam Pince was scolding a group of older students in red and gold ties about bringing food into the library. The students winced and made for the exit. Madam Pince's voice was shrill and hard. Dor edged past as Madam Pince shooed them from the library like an angry vulture. Dor hurried back to the study room. The lanterns ignited when she entered. She found there a trio of books stacked upon the table. _Theories of the Multiverse_ by Starswirl the Bearded, _Quantum Physics and Parallel Worlds_ , by Reed Richards, Ph.D, and _Considering L-Space_ by the Librarian of Unseen University, transcribed by Ponder Stibbons.

Dor picked up _Theories of the Multiverse_ , sat in the cushioned chair, kicked off her shoes, and made herself comfortable. She opened to the first page and began to read.

* * *

After dinner, Dor followed the girls to the Hufflepuff basement. The common room was full, students ranging in age from eleven to seventeen lounged about in the chairs, reading, studying, chatting, playing chess. Dor had never been interested in gossiping with the other girls at St. Bridget's Orphanage—who'd gotten a pat on the head from a sister, who'd gotten her bottom smacked, who was acting like a stuck up prig—but this seemed nice.

"Care for some hot chocolate before bed?" Isabel asked. "Johnny Boulder is perfecting his recipes."

"Hot chocolate? That sounds... decadent."

Aelf smiled wide. "It is."

The tall, broad boy with the round face smiled as the four of them approached where he sat by the common room fireplace. "Ah, my favorite customers. And you've brought a friend." He had removed his tie and vest and wore his white button up shirt tucked into his fleecy, loose black pants with yellow badgers marching across them. He turned to a pot he was tending near the fireplace. With his wand he stirred the pot, then withdrew a ladle and poured thick brown liquid into four mismatched ceramic mugs.

"I've put a bit of cinnamon into this one," Johnny said.

Dor put her face close to the sweet, hot liquid and breathed deeply. She'd never had chocolate before, but she'd read about it and it sounded wonderful. The scent tickled her nose with a hint of cinnamon before coating her expectations in warm, soft, comfort. She took a sip and decided hot chocolate was better than coffee, at least after a long day of research, sitting next to the fire.

"This is... I can't even... You're extraordinary, Mr. Boulder," Dor said, tears at the edge of her voice. "I've never tasted anything like this. Never. This is a rare joy and I thank you for sharing it with me."

Johnny blinked, taken aback. He swallowed and blushed. "It's just hot chocolate."

"It's exquisite," said Dor.

He cleared his throat roughly.

Isabel sat on a couch near the fire, sipping her hot chocolate. She patted the spot next to her. "Dor, have a seat?" Dor sat next to her and Aelf sat on her other side. Sandra sat on the couch arm beside Isabel. "Now, it's time to tell us about your adventure," said Isabel.

Dor hunched her shoulders. "I wouldn't call it an adventure. It's been harrowing."

"Adventures rarely feel like it at the time," said Sandra. "It's only in looking back, sitting by a fire with a warm drink, that the stories can be told with any sort of fondness."

"With friends," added Isabel. "We're all Hufflepuffs here, nobody's going to laugh at you or call you a liar. But if you're not ready, no body's going to think ill of you for it."

Dor contemplated her cup of hot chocolate. She barely knew these girls. She barely knew this place. But so far she'd managed to make friends across the multiverse by being honest.

"An adventure. Well, I do like telling stories. The difference with this one is it's real, and it happened to me. Though I'd never have believed it if you'd told me that a month ago." She took another sip of her hot chocolate and let it coat her insides like a thick quilt.

"My name is Dorothy Alice Wendy and I am an orphan." She'd told this story a few times now, but this time she spared no detail. She hadn't told Professor Sprout and Madam Pince about the spankings. She hadn't told them how it had felt to live at the orphanage, to feel stories bursting in her head, to dream every night of the fantastic, and never be able to share it lest she be punished. She hadn't told them how afraid she was when Elmira Gulch had discovered her outside the window, when she'd fallen off the roof. She hadn't told them how vulnerable she'd felt appearing in a dark, magical wood in nothing but her nightie. She hadn't described the feeling of warmth at making a friend in Twilight Sparkle. This time, when she told her story, it was not perfunctory, it was not with fear they'd think her delusional. It was instead an expression of herself.

When she finished her hot chocolate, Johnny refilled it. When she got teary-eyed describing how she'd abandoned Jubilee, Isabel rubbed her back. When she described her tiny corner of the War of the Lions, Aelf shed a single tear. And when she at last told them of the Changs and how she'd thought she'd found a place she might stay a while, she realized the Hufflepuff common room had gone silent but for her.

Finally she told them of Mr. Quillon and the Infinite library and how the whole place had made her feel on edge. "And now I'm here," said Dor. "A planeswalker who doesn't know how to planeswalk. Given a task I don't want to pursue. I appreciate everything everyone here has done for me. Especially when there was no reason to trust me. I feel safe here."

"You _are_ safe here," said Sandra. "You're one of us, now and forever. And if that Gulch girl or the creepy collector come here looking for you, they'll find how Hufflepuffs protect their friends."

A murmur of ascent filled the common room. Dor looked up from her hot chocolate to see everyone's eyes on her. She blushed and tried to sink into the couch.

Johnny stood up and clapped his hands gently. "All right, everybody. We've had our story. It's time we were off to bed. We've all got class in the morning."


	12. Hogwarts, Part 2

Dor sat in her study room in the library, reading a blue-book entitled _Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey_ by the Doctor. No last name, just the Doctor. Her eyes bleared over at the third digression into the defense of bowties. Dor didn't know why anyone wouldn't think bow ties weren't appropriately dapper or what that had to do with travel between planes of existence, but she soldiered on, reading every word, if only understanding every third.

Her notes over the last weeks studying every book Madam Pince put in front of her were organized into piles and folders marked with brightly colored ribbons and annotated in her increasingly small hand. She'd learned a lot, mostly that the various experts on interdimensional travel were prone to asides. Also that they all had different ideas of how it worked.

Starswirl the Bearded took a meticulous, studied, magical approach to the idea, though for him it was hypothesis without a way to test it. Dr. Richards of the Fantastic Four was much like Starswirl the Bearded in his meticulous, measured approach to the matter, but boiled his experiences to mathematical formulae far over Dor's head. Doctor No Name was disorganized brilliance, talking about time and space with an unbridled enthusiasm.

Her favorite understanding of the multiverse, however, came from the Librarian at the Unseen University, who also didn't seem to have a name. The power of written words, according to the Librarian, was so powerful they could warp spacetime when gathered in large enough, or dense enough, quantities, like libraries, cozy book stores, and piles of unread letters in abandoned post offices. Using the powers of librarianship, a properly trained librarian could wander the multiverse from library to library.

 _"A good bookshop is just a genteel black hole that knows how to read."_

The quote from the Librarian's book on L-Space had so tickled Dor she'd written it prominently upon the blackboard Madam Pince had loaned her.

At a tapping, Dor looked up to find Madam Pince. "Were you here all night, Dorothy?"

Dor blinked at her. "Was I?"

Since coming to Hogwarts, Dor had gotten used to incredible meals, owls delivering the mail, and ghosts wandering the hallways. She'd gotten used to moving paintings and tricky staircases. She'd even gotten used to the mischievous poltergeist. But despite how amazing everything was, despite how comfortable the beds were, Dor had not gotten used to falling asleep without Kya by her side. Every night, she missed other girl fiercely, and could not help but cry herself to sleep. So, sometimes she neglected to go to bed altogether.

Madam Pince clucked exasperatedly. "I'm all for late night study sessions, but this is the third time this week. You need a break."

Dor stretched her aching neck and blinked her bleary eyes. "I'm fine."

"No. I don't think you are. I'm banishing you from the library for the rest of the weekend."

"Banishing?" Dor said, horrified.

"For the weekend," Madam Pince reiterated. "I want to look over your notes. Besides, Professor Sprout wants to see you. We've arranged for you to visit Olivander's. I'll see you when you get back."

"You're not coming?" Dor asked.

Madam Pince blinked at her before giving a small smile. "I cannot close the library and I'll not having those ruffians pawing through my books without supervision."

Dor chuckled.

"Before you go, what's the last book you read?"

Dor marked her place with a ribbon, then closed and hefted _Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey._

"I mean for pleasure."

"Oh." Dor felt her face light up. " _War of the Worlds_."

Madam Pince nodded. "I'm afraid we've been pushing you too hard on your independent study. You might try reading something else for a bit. We have a section of muggle literature. I'm partial to Tolkien myself. He first published in in nineteen fifty-four."

"That's... well after my time," said Dor in wonder.

"I'm aware. If you're going to be a space-time traveler, you may as well take advantage of it to read the very best novels. Now, off with you."

Dor tidied her study room, making sure the books were neatly shelved in order by author's last name, when they had a last name. She made sure her notes were neatly stacked and tucked into folders, marked with brightly colored ribbons and placed on the bookshelf. All her inkpots were stoppered, all her quills were cleaned.

Dor made her way to the Hufflepuff basement where Isabel, Sandra, and Aelf were already waiting for her, clad in their overcloaks, black and yellow Hufflepuff scarves at the ready.

"Oh hello. Why aren't you three in class?"

"It's Saturday," said Isabel. "And we're coming with you. Professor Sprout said we're going to Diagon Alley."

"Fantastic," said Dor. She took in their heavy clothing. "Is Diagon Alley particularly cold?"

"It's winter, silly," said Aelf.

"It is?"

"You've been here nearly a month. It's almost December." said Sandra.

"Oh. Is that why it looked like it was snowing in the great hall last night?"

Her friends giggled at her.

Dor collected her Hogwarts overcloak and her Hufflepuff scarf and joined the others as they trooped to the front doors leading to the Hogwarts grounds. Dor had been about the grounds a time or two, but most of her time was spent in the library.

Professor Sprout was waiting for them. "All set to go then?"

Dor nodded "But where is it exactly we're going, professor?"

"Olivander's. It is the premiere wand shop in the country. We're going to see if we can't get you a wand."

Dor blushed. "I, uh... I don't have any money."

"That's quite all right," said Professor Sprout. "I've spoken with the headmistress, and she's agreed to award you this year's interdimensional student grant."

Sandra chuckled and Aelf giggled and Dor looked skeptical.

"This is a long-standing tradition, I suppose?" said Dor.

"Oh yes," said Professor Sprout. "Nearly an hour and a half now." She smiled. "Come along, dear."

They were nearly out the door when hurried footsteps chased them.

"A moment, Dorothy." It was Madam Pince. She held out a small leather-bound book to her. "So you'll know you're not the only one on an unexpected journey. I've got several copies of this one. You may keep it as long as you like."

Dor looked at the book. _There and Back Again_ by J.R.R. Tolkien. "Thank you."

Madam Pince nodded at her, then turned and strode back to the library.

"Off we are then," said Professor Sprout, leading them onto the grounds. "Have any of you used a portkey before?"

Isabel nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Once."

Dor was relieved to see Aelf and Sandra both shake their heads. At least she wouldn't be the only one new to whatever exciting magical thing was about to happen next.

"A portkey," Professor Sprout explained as she led them onto the grounds, "is an item keyed to a particular spot such that when touched, it will transport that person to that particular spot. Because the train takes all day and apparating with passengers can be tricky, I have arranged for us to take a port key to Diagon Alley. Now, it can be disorienting, but once we touch the portkey we need to not let go until the transportation is complete. Understood?"

They all nodded.

"Taking a field trip can be exciting and there's a lot to see in Diagon Alley, but I expect you all to be on your very best behavior, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Dor.

Professor Sprout led them down to a cottage on the grounds Dor had seen before but not taken much notice of. "Professor Hagrid is out on business today and he agreed to let us use his garden patch as our portkey location." She led them around behind the cottage to a yard that was largely empty, put to bed for winter. At one corner was an old, wooden bucket.

"Here we are, dears."

"Is that the portkey?" Dor asked. "The bucket?"

"Why is it all old and falling apart?" Aelf asked.

"That's to disguise it," said Isabel. "So muggles don't touch it accidentally. It'd be awful if they started accidentally teleporting all across the country."

"Right you are," said Professor Sprout. "Five points."

Isabel beamed but Dor was confused. "Points for what?"

"For the House Cup, silly," said Aelf.

"House Cup?"

"You've got to get out of the library," said Sandra. "You're missing all the best parts of Hogwarts."

Dor blinked, confused. "You mean the library isn't the best part of Hogwarts? Well, I mean second best," Dor said hurriedly. "You three are the best part of Hogwarts." Aelf giggled, Sandra smiled broadly and Isabel blushed. Dor grinned, "Well, you and the food. The food is incredible. And the beds are awfully nice too."

"Brat," Sandra said, giving her shoulder a small shove.

They all giggled.

"All right, children. Are you ready?" Professor Sprout asked. "Gather round, reach out your hands but don't touch it until I say so. Everyone ready? On three. One, two, thr..."

Dor touched the bucket. The world around her spun in a myriad of bright sounds and loud colors. There was no direction, no up and down, only the great spinning of the world. The tickling tingle at her shoulders exploded across her back and her awareness expanded. She could feel the pull of the Multiverse. She did not reach out to it but let it touch her and while the spinning of the world, of the magical transportation, did not cease, it did feel more manageable.

"Hang on," shouted Professor Sprout. "Almost there!"

Sandra groaned and Aelf screamed. Even Isabel had a closed, clamped look like she might be ill.

A few moments later it all stopped. The ground came under Dor's feet and she welcomed its firmness. Professor Sprout took a step or two to gain her balance. Aelf, Isabel, and Sandra all tumbled to the ground, dizzy and disoriented.

"Well done, Dorothy. I've never seen anyone handle a portkey so well on their first try." Professor Sprout said.

"Are we there yet?" Sandra asked. "I don't feel so good."

"We're here," Dor confirmed. She helped Sandra to her feet and let the other girl put a hand on her shoulder while she steadied herself. Isabel used the nearby brick wall to get to her feet, taking several deep breaths. Aelf shook her head when Dor held a hand to her.

"I just need to sit here a few moments," Aelf said.

Dor looked around. They were in a small brick alleyway leading to a large, main thoroughfare. The buildings of Diagon Alley were tall and meandering, crooked as the alley itself. Brightly colored storefronts sold everything from potion-making supplies to magical pets to flying broomsticks. Dor gawped like a muggle. Professor Sprout led them to a dark, dim shop with gold lettering above the window proclaiming it Olivander's Wand Shop.

The bell above the door tinkled as they entered.

"I love this shop," Aelf said. "It's so homey and interesting and mysterious."

A long counter separated the small front room from five rows of tall shelves each filled with stacks of nondescript boxes. Dor's shoulders tingled gently.

"Just a moment, just a moment. I'll be right there," came a voice from the back. A few moments later, a young woman with a wild shock of purple-brown hair came to the fore. "Professor Sprout, hello, so good to see you. You were informed Olivander himself would be out on a supply expedition, yes?"

"Yes indeed, Maureen, thank you. I'm sure you'll do just find helping young Dorothy procure her wand."

Maureen blushed. "Thank you, professor, that means a lot. So, which one of you is Dorothy?"

"I am, ma'am," said Dor

"And this will be your first wand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Step forward, let me get a look at you."

Dor stepped up to the counter, putting her hands behind her back and swaying nervously.

"Hmm. Let me see, let me see." Maureen wandered back through the stacks, muttering to herself. After a while, "Ah ha! How about this one?" She brought a box forward, set it on the counter, lifted the lid, and gestured for Dor to take it.

Dor picked up the length of wood.

"Alder with a unicorn hair core. A bit bendy, but not too much. How does it feel?"

Dor looked at the wand and shrugged.

"Fair enough," said Maureen, plucking the wand from Dor's fingers. "Let's try something else." She hurried into the stacks, muttering, and came back with another box. "Willow. Good for healers. The dragon heartstring makes it strong but a bit temperamental."

Dor took the wand. The tingle at her shoulders intensified but made her vision blurry and she dropped it quickly. "Sorry. Um. I don't think so."

"All right, all right. I think we're getting there though. Narrowing down the choices, eh?"

Dor looked past Maureen to the stacks and stacks of boxes.

Maureen took the wand, popped it in its box, and headed back to the shelves. She came back a few minutes later with a wide smile. She set the box on the counter with an air of triumph.

"This one is pine with a unicorn hair core. It's quite flexible, requiring the user to be so as well to master it. Pine wands prefer independent masters. This is the wand of a person who is creative with her magic. What do you think, Ms. Dorothy?"

Dor picked up the wand and the tingle of her shoulders spread through all her body; her chest filled with it. The wand was golden-hued with an intricate maze pattern carved into its handle and inked purple. A trio of equidistant flutes ran the length of its shaft. It felt good in her hand, like it belonged there, like it had been waiting for her.

"It's perfect."

"Well done, Maureen," Professor Sprout said quietly.

Maureen blushed. "Well, as they say, the wand chooses the wizard. I just helped a bit."

* * *

"We have an hour before we're to be back at Hogwarts," said Professor Sprout. "Feel free to wander but don't be late and stay away from Knockturn Alley. I don't want to have to warm any bottoms when we get back."

The girls giggled as they hurried off. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped as Dor let her friends lead the way. It smelled of snow. Dor pulled her Hufflepuff scarf up over her ears and mouth.

They visited the potions shop where Aelf bought a new cauldron. "Copper is better for burping potions," she said with a giggle. They visited the book store where Isabel bought the _Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3_. "Just to get a head start," she said. And they stopped at the joke shop where Sandra bought puking pasties, "In case History of Magic gets even more boring," she said.

When they left the joke shop, Dor pulled her scarf up against the chill again.

That's when she saw Elmira. Dor spun around and pretended to examine the items through the joke shop window while staring at the girl through the reflection. Elmira was clad in a black dress and thick boots and a faded red cloak with the hood pulled up. But Dor recognized the hook of her nose, the orange of her eyes. She didn't know if Elmira had seen her, so she watched the reflection of the other girl as she stalked away.

Several moments later, Isabel found her. "What's wrong?"

Dor turned slowly, making sure there was no sign of Elmira. "I'll tell you when we're back."

* * *

Once safely in their Hufflepuff dormitory, Dor told them about seeing Elmira Gulch.

"You're certain it was her?" Isabel asked.

Dor nodded.

"Well, we're safe here," Aelf said.

"Besides, what was she going to do, attack you in the middle of the street?" asked Sandra.

"Probably," said Dor. "She's done it before." She shrugged uncomfortably. "We're sort of supposed to be working together, researching Ravenclaw's Diadem so Mr. Quillon can steal it. But he can spy on me, so maybe he knows I've decided not to do it. But according to _Hogwarts, a History_ , the grounds are supposed to have powerful protection magics, so maybe he doesn't? Either way, I'm sure Elmira would be happy to attack me given half the chance, and I—"

Isabel stood. "Enough. Relax, Dor. You're safe here."

Dor closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She hadn't realized she was crying. Aelf sat next to her on her bed and put an arm around her shoulders.

"We should tell Professor Sprout," said Isabel.

"I should have thought of that. I just wasn't thinking straight.," said Dor.

Dor stood, but Isabel shook her head. "On second thought, I'll take care of that. Don't worry about it, okay?"

Dor swallowed hard but nodded.

Sandra cleared her throat. "Should we give her her present now?"

"Present?" Dor sniffled and wiped away tears.

"Yes, a present," said Aelf.

"Yeah, we figured since you weren't here last Christmas, we couldn't get you anything, so think of this as a very, very late Christmas present," said Sandra

"For me?'

"Haven't you ever had a Christmas present before?" asked Sandra.

Dor shook her head. "At the orphanage we celebrated Christmas by listening to one of Sister Mary Margaret's sermons."

Isabel withdrew a small package wrapped in brown paper. "We all chipped in."

Dor unwrapped it to find a brown leather holster with a pair of loops for securing round a belt with a pair of snaps. The leather was thick and durable but pliable.

"It's for your wand," said Aelf.

"It's a holster," added Sandra.

Dor stared at it in wonder. She'd never received a gift, not from anyone ever.

"Dor, are you okay?"

Dor cleared her throat and blinked away more tears. "I'm fine," she said. "Thank you so very much." She secured it to her belt and it felt secure on her left hip. When she slid her new pine and unicorn hair wand into the holster, it felt right.

"Most people don't wear holsters at school, but it's better than keeping it in your pocket," Isabel said. She patted her left hip where Dor saw she had her own wand holstered. She hadn't noticed that before. "Wands are durable, but every once in a while someone will snap their wand by sitting on it."

Dor hugged Isabel impulsively, squeezing her around the shoulders as tight as she could. "Thank you," she said again.

"You're quite welcome."

Before Dor could let Isabel go, Aelf joined their hug and Sandra soon thereafter.

* * *

Monday morning, at breakfast, Madam Pince took Dor aside.

"I'm still going through your notes, Dorothy. You've made some astute observations. I am, on the whole, impressed. However, you've made so many notes I'm not finished."

"Does this mean I'm still banished from the library?"

Madam Pince smiled. "No. However, I recommend you take another day off. Shadow your yearmates for the day. There's more to Hogwarts than the library you know."

Dor rejoined the others at the Hufflepuff table.

"I've never seen her smile," Sandra whispered.

"Be nice," Dor chided.

"I thought I was."

After breakfast, Dor joined the others for History of Magic. When the professor walked through the blackboard to begin lessons, Dor nearly jumped out of her skin. She'd seen ghosts up and down the halls, but she hadn't known one of them was a teacher.

"It's okay if you fall asleep," Aelf whispered. "Most do."

But Dor was fascinated by Professor Binn's description of the Goblin Wars.

Next they attended potions, where Professor Slughorn greeted her warmly and made her feel quite at home. She watched the girls brew an antidote to a sleeping draught. At the end of class, Professor Slughorn took volunteers for those who wanted to be the victim of a sleeping draught, assuring them he'd brewed his own antidote just in case. Sandra volunteered immediately.

After lunch, they went to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"It's my favorite class," said Isabel. "I'm going to be an auror one day. That's a dark wizard catcher."

"Sounds dangerous," Dor said.

"It is. But it's important."

When they arrived at the classroom, there were no desks to be found, instead there was a long, raised platform in the center of the room.

"Is this normal?" Dor asked.

"Not at all," said Isabel.

A woman in dark slacks and a padded vest over a bright purple blouse entered and the class settled down. Her black hair was done up in a tight braid and had a pink streak through it. She had soft violet eyes that felt familiar to Dor. She wore her wand in a holster on her belt, and Dor was glad she'd chosen to wear her new gift.

"That's Professor Sparkle," said Isabel. "Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. She's had the position two years in a row now."

"Is that unusual?"

"Rumor has it the position has been cursed for decades until Harry Potter defeated You-Know-Who."

Dor shook her head. "I don't, actually."

Professor Sparkle jumped upon the platform and clapped her hands. "All right, everyone listen up." Her voice was familiar too. Dor was certain she'd heard it before. "Today we have a guest speaker. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Harry Potter."

Harry Potter had black hair and bottle green eyes behind a pair of spectacles. Dor found him quite handsome and felt herself blush. He wore dark grey slacks and a red button up underneath a padded vest much like Professor Sparkle's. He climbed up on the platform and shook Professor Sparkle's hand. The class broke into spontaneous applause.

"All right, Mr. Potter, the floor is yours," said Professor Sparkle.

Mr. Potter looked out at them and gave a small smile. "Hello. As I'm sure you're all aware, the wizarding war is only a few years gone now, and because of my part in it, I have been invited from time to time to guest lecture for the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.

"I've learned a few things about dueling and coming out the winner. Since you all are second years, we're sticking to the basics. Today, you'll be learning the disarming charm. Some of you may think the disarming charm is boring, that you'd like to see something flashier. I understand and, in a few years, we can get to it. But the disarming charm was and is one of my most trusted spells in a conflict. Do not underestimate it."

He turned and looked at Professor Sparkle. "Shall we give them a demonstration?"

Professor Sparkle nodded grimy. "Dueling is also a sport, so today we'll be observing some of the niceties. We shall salute our opponents." She drew her wand and held it vertically at eye level. "And we shall not begin until told to do so. Furthermore, safety is of utmost importance. We will be casting the disarming charm only. No jinxes, no hexes, no curses of any kind. When I say 'wands down' that means we're done. You point your wand at the floor or drop it entirely. Any questions?"

There were none, so Professor Sparkle and Mr. Potter spaced themselves several paces apart on the platform. They saluted each other and took a stance. Their stances weren't anything like the waterbending stances Dor had learned from Kya, but they took them with practiced ease.

Dor felt a pang as she thought of Kya. It had been weeks since she'd seen her and though she'd made great strides in her research, she was no closer to seeing her again.

Professor Sparkle took a step forward and said something in a language Dor didn't understand. But Mr. Potter was quicker. He flicked his wand forward.

"Expelliarmus."

Dor felt a tickle of magic at the base of her skull and along her shoulders.

A dart of white light shot from his wand and struck Professor Sparkle in the chest. Her wand flew from her hand and skittered to the end of the platform. The class erupted into applause.

Mr. Potter holstered his wand and faced the class. "That's basically all there is to it. The somatic component to this spell can be a bit tricky. I prefer a flick of the wrist, but I know others use a variety of movements, so that's something requiring practice. That said, please remember you're not to practice magic without adult supervision."

A murmur of assent shuffled through the students.

"We're going to practice the word now. Wands away." He held his hands up and out. "The word is, expelliarmus. Accent the fourth syllable. Ex-pell-i-AR-mus. On three. One... two..."

"Expelliarmus," the class said together.

He made them practice the word several more times before he turned to Professor Sparkle and said, "What do you think, should we ask for volunteers?"

Almost every hand in the room shot up.

For the next twenty minutes, in pairs, most of the class got upon the platform and tried their hand as the spell. Most could produce some bit of magic, a bit of light if nothing else, but few managed the spell itself. The first was Alonso Jordan against his fellow Gryffindor, Hillary Sanders, striking her in the chest with a dart of light, her wand flying through the air. The class cheered and Hillary shook Alonso's hand with a grimace.

Dor felt the magic at her neck intensify. She took a deep breath and tried not to get in its way.

Several more students stood upon the platform. A few managed to hit each other with a bit of light, but did not manage to disarm them. When a Ravenclaw girl named Karen Copeland faced off against a Hufflepuff boy named Isaac McKenzie, Dor felt the tingle at her neck increase. She waited with bated breath while they saluted, took their stances, and were given the signal. Without hesitation, Karen flicked her wrist and said, "Expelliarmus." Isaac fell back on his butt as his wand sailed through the air, and Dor felt the knot of magic solidify at her neck.

She closed her eyes and summoned her spell book, and there, before Jubilee's Dazzler, was Harry's Expelliarmus.

* * *

 **Harry's Expelliarmus** **2W**

 **Tribal Sorcery – Wizard Instant**

Unattach all cards attached to target creature. Its base power becomes 0 until end of turn.

* * *

"Dor, are you all right?" Isabel asked.

Dor smiled "I learned the spell," she whispered.

"Really? In your card book?"

Dor nodded.

"You should go up there," said Isabel.

"What? Me? You're the one who wants to be a dark wizard fighter."

"You should both go," said Sandra.

"Any more volunteers?" asked Professor Sparkle. "We've got time for a few more practice bouts."

"Right here," said Sandra, giving Dor and Isabel a shove.

They staggered forward. Isabel looked back and gave Sandra a glare.

"All right you two, come on up," said Mr. Potter.

Dor looked at Isabel who looked at her and shrugged. They clambered upon the platform. Dor followed Mr. Potter down the platform a ways.

"Remember it's okay if it doesn't work the first time. It can be a bit tricky to master. Do you remember the word?" Mr. Potter asked.

"Expelliarmus," Dor said, and felt the magic buzz up and down her arms.

"Very good. Now, turn and face your opponent."

Dor did as she was told. Isabel faced her. Professor Sparkle took several steps back from Isabel to the back of the platform.

"Wands out," said Mr. Potter.

"Salute your opponent," said Professor Sparkle.

"At the ready," said Mr. Potter.

Dor took a waterbending stance she'd learned from Kya. She thought she heard some snickering from the students. The tingle at Dor's shoulders intensified. Every spell in her spell book flickered through her mind in a jumble. She took a deep breath and focused on Harry's Expelliarmus.

"Begin," Professor Sparkle said.

Isabel took a step forward and brought her wand down. "Expelli..."

Dor reacted. "Expelliarmus!"

Two darts of white light streaked at each other and met in a small explosion between them. The crowd of students gasped and burst into applause.

"Wands down!" Professor Sparkle shouted.

Dor let her shoulder drop.

"That was impressive," said Mr. Potter. "What do you say, professor, shall we give them another shot?"

"Nothing like a good tie breaker," said Professor Sparkle with a grin. "You up for it ladies?

Dor nodded, excitement flooding her.

"Absolutely," said Isabel.

"Wands out..."

"Salute..."

"Ready..."

"Begin!"

Isabel was faster. With a flick of her wrist, and the shouted word, a dart of light hurtled at Dor. Twilight's Blink flashed through Dor's mind. The magic at her shoulders flowed down her arm to her wand and with a crack she teleported two feet forward, the spell missing her. Behind her, Dor heard Mr. Potter grunt with surprise.

"Expelliarmus," Dor shouted, liking the way the wand felt in her hand, the way the magic tripped lightly along her arm.

Isabel swung her wand arm in a wide arc and said a word Dor didn't know. A shield of magic dashed the disarming spell to nothing. Isabel took a step back, preparing another spell. Kya's Waterbending flickered through Dor's mind. She could feel water nearby, ahead and to her right. She swung her wand arm from one waterbending stance to another and a streamer of water leapt from a pitcher on a sideboard, striking Isabel and nearly knocking her off the platform. Dor stepped forward, prepared with Harry's Expellilarmus, but Isabel was not to be deterred.

"Stupefy!" Isabel shouted.

Dor stumbled back, her senses numb. She could barely feel her fingers gripping her wand. She felt tired and dull. And yet, when Isabel got to her feet and pointed her wand, Dor was able to think of one thing. Jubilee's Dazzler slid though her mind sluggishly and pink, yellow, and green lights leapt from Dor's wand, striking her friend in the chest.

"I said wands down!" Professor Sparkle shouted.

Dor felt her wand forced from her grasp as she collapsed.

Several minutes later, after the other students had been sent to their next class, Dor and Isabel sat next to each other on the edge of the platform. Professor Sparkle and Mr. Potter stood at the door, talking quietly for a while before Mr. Potter left. For all that she knew she was in trouble, Dor felt good, energized almost. Before, utilizing her mana on so many spells at once had exhausted her. She patted the wand in its holster on her left hip. It tingled in response.

"Are you all right?" Dor asked.

"Yeah. You?" Isabel returned.

"Yeah. Sorry I went overboard."

"Me too. But, I gotta say, that was pretty impressive dueling," Isabel said.

"You're not so bad yourself."

They giggled quietly. Then Professor Sparkle fixed them with a stern look and stalked toward them.

"Do you suppose we're in trouble?" Dor asked.

"Oh, yeah," Isabel said.

"You two, my office, now," Professor Sparkle said.

Dor and Isabel slid off the platform and preceded Professor Sparkle into a small room. It was a cozy office, bookshelves on one wall, desk on another, couch on a third.

"We went over this. When I say 'wands down', that means stop dueling. Wasn't I clear?" Professor Sparkle asked.

Both girls nodded silently.

"So why didn't you listen?"

Dor shrugged miserably.

"Honestly, ma'am, I didn't hear you," Isabel said. "I was just so caught up in the duel."

Dor nodded. "I didn't mean to disobey you."

"Be that as it may, you did disobey and you set an extraordinarily poor example for you classmates. Isabel, you've got top marks in all your classes. The other Hufflepuffs your age look up to you. And Dorothy, everyone is already infatuated with the mysterious guest spending all her time in the library. The two of you have told the whole school that my rules for safety can be ignored, that they can get away with dueling in my classroom."

Dor looked down and away and sniffled. She knew she was embarrassing herself, crying in front of Isabel, but she couldn't help it. She hated being scolded. Worse, Professor Sparkle was right.

Dor studied the rug in the office. It took up most of the floor, so the desk and couch obscured some of it, but she recognized the symbol she was standing in the center of. It was a pink, six-pointed star surrounded by five white, six-pointed stars. It was Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark. Stunned, Dor blinked letting tears slide down her face and looked at Professor Sparkle. Though she was clearly human, definitely not a unicorn, though her hair was black rather than purple, she had the same pink streak, the same soft, lavender eyes. Even her voice was the same. Dor couldn't believe she hadn't seen it before now.

"Something you want to say, Ms. Dorothy?"

Dor bit her lip and shook her head. "No ma'am."

"Usually I'd leave this to your head of house, but I've spoken with Professor Sprout and she agrees that for such and egregious error, in in my classroom, that I should handle it."

Isabel sniffled and Dor looked at her. She was gratified to see Isabel crying. Not because she wanted her friend to cry, but at least Dor didn't feel like she was alone.

"Bend over the desk," Professor Sparkle said.

Dor shivered uncomfortably. She knew what to do, though she hated it. She hated she was to be spanked. She hated she had disappointed Professor Sparkle. She hated that she felt like she deserved it. She wished she knew what kind of spanker Professor Sparkle would turn out to be. Was she mean, like Sister Mary Margaret? Was she kind, like Minwu? If she really was an alternate version of her friend from Equestria, Dor hoped the purple unicorn's kindness would extend through the multiverse.

Dor stepped up to the desk, bent over, and grabbed the other side. Next to her, Isabel did the same though with hesitancy.

"If either of you ever does anything like this again, you'll be banned from any and all dueling exercise in the future. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," they said together.

Dor heard Professor Sparkle approach. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the desk. At a rustle of fabric, Isabel squirmed uncomfortably and groaned. Dor knew without looking that Professor Sparkle had lifted Isabel's skirt.

"Please, professor. I'm very sorry," Isabel said.

The spanking was swift and curt. Eighteen crisp smacks filled the small office. Isabel gasped and coughed then cried freely, and when it was done, Dor felt her friend stand and move away. Then Professor Sparkle's put a hand gently on Dor's back and lifted her skirt.

Dor tried to remember if today she'd wore the yellow drawers with black trim or the black with yellow. _Panties,_ she reminded herself. _The other girls call them panties._ She wondered where the word came from. It seemed a shortened version of pantaloons or pantalets or...

The wandering ramble of her mind ceased as Professor Sparkle's hand on her back shifted and Dor knew she was about to have her bottom smacked. Even through the sting and embarrassment of being spanked in front of one of her friends for having behaved so recklessly, Dor counted them. Eighteen, nine to each cheek, and her whole body stung with it.

When it was done, Professor Sparkle helped her stand and gave her a brief hug. As spankings went, it hadn't been awful, nor unfair. In fact, it had been the least she deserved

Professor Sparkle looked at them. She didn't look angry or stern, but disappointed and faintly sad. "That's it then," she said, voice husky. Dor wondered if the professor was about to cry. "If I'm not mistaken, you two are late for charms class. Off you go."

* * *

Dor and Isabel sat together at dinner that evening and spent it quietly. Sandra couldn't stop reenacting the duel enthusiastically to anyone who would listen.

"And then Isabel cast Protego! I didn't even know second years could do that! But then Dor..."

Dor blushed but didn't have the heart to tell her to stop. A few Hufflepuff boys tried to give them a hard time for having gotten spanked, but Johnny Boulder rumbled at them menacingly.

"Mind your manners unless you want an official reprimand sent to Professor Sprout. You know what she thinks of teasing."

After dinner, Dor went straight to bed, Isabel right beside her. They changed in silence. Dor folded her laundry neatly and silently thanked the house elves she'd never seen for taking care of that necessity. As she dug in her wardrobe for her nightie, she caught a glimpse of Isabel from the corner of her eye. Curiosity getting the best of her, she looked at her friend's naked backside and noted there was no evidence of spanking, not a hint of pink and certainly no bruises. Isabel noticed her noticing and blushed.

"It doesn't sting anymore," Isabel said, pulling on a faded pink nightie with a blue and yellow flower print

"Yeah," said Dor, pulling on her soft yellow Hufflepuff nightie.

"You... you said you got spanked really hard at the orphanage, but that the cleric lady was nice about it." Isabel sat on her bed.

Dor nodded as she sat on her bed, facing Isabel.

"Professor Sparkle seems the nice kind of spanker, weird as that sounds."

Dor nodded again. "Definitely. On both counts."

"Still, I haven't been spanked since I was ten years old, and I've never been spanked at school. It... it didn't feel good."

"I'm sorry," Dor said.

Isabel shook her head. "Not your fault. Also, we were already spanked, no more guilt. Right?"

"Right."

Isabel stood and hugged Dor and Dor hugged her back.

They went to bed. Dor closed the curtains on her four-poster bed and heard Isabel do the same. Though the sting of the spanking had long since faded, Dor imagined she could still feel it. She'd hated to think it, but something about that sting, a part of it anyway, felt nice. It felt warm and comforting and protective. She drew up the covers and turned on her side and closed her eyes. She pulled one of the many pillows to her chest and rested her left arm over it. She thought of Kya and her heart ached for her friend. She remembered lying next to her, much like this, cuddled close. She missed Kya in a way she couldn't quite describe, and she cried into her pillow until falling asleep.


	13. Hogwarts, Part 3

Dor curled in her chair in her study room. She'd brought a blanket from the dorm room and was wrapped in it. The library had been empty when she'd arrived, but the lights in the study room flared to life when she'd entered. She was reading _Considering L-Space_ again, and thinking.

Only a couple days ago, she'd seen Elmira in Diagon Alley, which meant though the other girl had made it to this plane, she hadn't been able to get onto Hogwarts grounds. She was probably furious with Dor. She'd probably reported to Mr. Quillon. Everything Dor had read about Hogwarts suggested there could be no magical observation upon the castle. But Mr. Quillon was crafty and he probably knew that if he couldn't see her, she was at the castle.

And much as she might want to, Dor could not hide at Hogwarts for the rest of her life. She had to think of a way to deal with Mr. Quillon, to get him to leave her alone. To get Elmira to stop coming after her. And she kept thinking the answer had something to do with L-Space. Mr. Quillon had said the Infinite Library abhorred paradox. _Considering L-Space_ claimed a proper librarian did not disrupt causality.

"Perhaps I could lure him into paradox," Dor whispered.

"Lure who into paradox?" Madam Pince said quietly from the doorway.

Dor started and snapped the book shut. Madam Pince raised an eyebrow at her.

"Sorry," said Dor. "I... I was just thinking aloud."

"About your interdimensional pursuers?"

Dor nodded.

"Hmm. Fair enough. But please remember your primary goal in this library is to research the multiverse and how you might travel through it. And on that topic, you've been doing quite well. Shall we go over your notes?"

Dor beamed. "Yes, please."

They went to Madam Pince's office, and Dor lost track of time. She and Madam Pince sorted and resorted her notes on the nature of traveling the multiverse. Madam Pince was impressed with the number of theories she'd managed to piece together but suggested she hadn't thought much about her own experiences. She praised Dor's organization, but chided her for her lack of focus.

"Remember your goal. Tangents and sidebars are fine so long as you mark them clearly and return to the point. Otherwise you'll end up writing something unfocused, like that _Wibbly Wobbly_ book."

Dor nodded. "Yes, ma'am. But it's hard to hold it all in my head at once."

"That's understandable," said Madam Pince. "There are tricks you'll learn. You've already implemented one of them, having taglines to summarize each section. If you like, there's a spell I can show you. I don't know if you'll be able to learn it though."

Dor brightened. "I learned the disarming charm."

Madam Pince fixed her with a look. "Yes. I heard."

Dor blushed.

"I take it Professor Sprout spanked you?"

Dor cleared her throat. "Professor Sparkle actually."

"Ah. Good. She's been reluctant to take a firmer hand with her students. I'm glad she's coming along."

Dor looked away.

"Do you object?" Madam Pince asked.

Dor shook her head. "No ma'am."

Madam Pince looked at her skeptically.

"Honestly. We didn't listen. We disobeyed, were a horrid example, and likely put others at risk. We got the spanking we deserved. But, it's still embarrassing."

"Hmm. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by your maturity."

Dor looked at the paddle leaning in the corner behind Madam Pince's desk. The librarian followed her gaze.

"Have you ever actually used it?" Dor asked.

"That paddle? Goodness no, that'd be monstrous. It's a deterrent. If my fearsome reputation can stop children mishandling books, all the better. Which isn't to say I haven't spanked students. Just this year a silly first year from Gryffindor lit a book on fire practicing transfiguration. I smacked his bottom thoroughly, I assure you."

Dor blushed again.

"Now, about that spell," said Madam Pince. "This is a quiet spell, a slow spell, a spell of contemplation. It's not flashy or exciting. It is used to calm the mind and organize the thoughts." Madam Pince drew her wand. "I want you to concentrate, Dorothy. Focus on your mind. It can be helpful to have a metaphor. Some prefer a bowl of water or a candle flame or a study room. Can you do that?"

Dor imagined the room in her mind and it came readily. The wood paneled walls, the quiet lighting, the tingle at her shoulders suffused her, ready for Madam Pince's instruction.

"Yes," said Dor. "I'm familiar with the room in my mind."

"Excellent. Imagine your thoughts like books on a shelf."

The spellbook appeared in Dor's lap as she sat, cross-legged in the center of the room.

"But not just any shelf, a library shelf, meticulously organized, easy to search. Sometimes, simply by looking at the books on the shelf, you will recall details you wouldn't have otherwise. Can you see the shelf?"

In the room in her mind, a bookshelf appeared along one wall, filled with the books she'd read since beginning her independent study. They were as organized in the room in her mind as they were in her study room. She stood and placed her spellbook with the others.

"Yes," Dor said.

"Catalog Cogitatus," Madam Pince murmured softly.

The tingle suffusing Dor intensified.

"Catalog Cogitatus."

It built, concentrating at the base of her skull. She relaxed, letting the magic take hold.

"Catalog Cogitationes meas."

A quite calm of thought washed over Dor and a new playing card eased through her mind.

* * *

Pince's Catalogue 1U

Tribal Sorcery – Librarian

Scry 5 _(Look at the top five cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom of your library and the rest on top in any order.)_

* * *

Dor skipped lunch, so Madam Pince insisted she go to dinner early. She was alone in the great hall eating a buttered roll and reading _There and Back Again_. Bilbo Baggins had just escaped Gollum with a clever riddle game when other students began trickling in.

"'What have I got in my pocket' is not a riddle," Dor said under the building hubub. She grinned. It had been a clever and exciting passage. She appreciated Bilbo as a reluctant hero with a penchant for stories and poems.

But her attention wandered as the great hall filled. She started thinking about her own problems instead of Mr. Baggins'. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced L-Space was her best chance to rid herself of Mr. Quillon. _Considering L-Space_ listed three tenants of being a librarian:

1\. Silence

2\. Books must be returned by the date stamped

3\. Do not interfere with causality

Mr. Quillon was well practiced in avoiding interference with causality as his concern for paradox underscored. She wondered if there was a way to check out a book to him and have it marked overdue. Would that be enough to raise the ire of the Infinite Library? Dor thought not.

Perhaps...

"Hey, there she is."

Dor blinked up from her book and her thoughts. A small knot of students approached her, a mix of houses: green and silver Slytherin, bronze and blue Ravenclaw, red and gold Gryffindor, black and yellow Hufflepuff. She recognized most of them though she didn't know everybody's name. There was Karen Copeland the Ravenclaw, Isaac McKenzie the Hufflepuff, Hillary Sanders the Gryffindor, a Slytherin named Orion. Alonso Jordan, the dark-skinned Gryffindor boy who'd so adroitly cast Expelliarmus, led the group.

Dor didn't like being approached by a group of people, but she deliberately kept herself from shrinking back. Instead, she made sure of her wand at her hip and focused on the magic at her shoulders.

"Dorothy, right?" said Alonzo.

"You can call me Dor."

"Right. So, we've been thinking. Since you and Isabel put on that display in Defense Against the Dark Arts a few days ago, we've been thinking. We were wondering if you might want to help us out."

Dor must have looked skeptical.

"No, really. We were thinking of..."

"We want to start a dueling club," said Karen Copeland.

"I was getting to it," said Alonzo.

"You were beating around the bush," said Hillary Sanders.

"Isn't this supposed to be clandestine?" said Orion, his voice smooth and low. "You should probably be talking a little quieter."

"Right," said Alonzo. "We're thinking about putting together a secret club, and we thought you and Isabel might like to join us, to maybe show us what you know. I've never seen second years so adept at it. Dueling you know. And just because the war's over doesn't mean we don't have to watch out for ourselves."

"What's this?"

Relief flooded Dor's shoulders when she heard Isabel's voice.

"Oh good," said Alonso. "You're here too."

"You all right, Dor?" Isabel asked.

"We weren't bugging her," said Hillary defensively.

"Right. We're inviting you two to help us put together a dueling club," said Alonzo.

"Clandestine," added Orion.

"Right," said Alonzo. "You guys ever hear of the Room of Requirement? My brother told me that's where Harry Potter and Dumbledor's Army practiced dueling in secret."

"No," said Isabel.

Dor heaved a sigh of relief. The thought of disobeying and disappointing Professor Sparkle again did not appeal, but she hadn't known how to say that to such and earnest looking group.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" said Hillary.

"I mean, 'no'," said Isabel. "We're not interested in dueling in secret." She looked at Dor.

Dor nodded. "I'm sorry, but I can't help you."

Isaac McKenzie scoffed. "What are you afraid of? Don't want Professor Sparkle to smack your bottoms again? Afraid of a little spanking? She's a pushover."

"She's not," said Dor, standing and snapping her book closed. The group took a collective step or two back. She hadn't meant to snap at them or startle them.

"It's not that we wouldn't enjoy a good duel," said Isabel. "And, you're right," she blushed. "Getting a spanking from one of my favorite professors was mortifying. What I'm afraid of is getting barred from any future dueling exercises. That's what Professor Sparkle said would happen. You all might think she's a pushover, but I think she means it. I won't risk my best chance to be an auror just because you want to go shooting spells at each other in secret."

"You know," said Dor, "You could always petition to start an overt dueling club. Professor Sparkle seems to know a lot about it. I'd wager if you asked her to set up something official, with all the precautions and supervision, she'd at least consider it."

Alonzo Jordan made a face like he'd not even considered the notion.

"That's reasonable," said Karen.

"A bit less fun," said Orion.

"Not everything has to be cloak and dagger." Hillary nudged the Slytherin boy. He shrugged but smiled.

"You can ask her right now," said Dor, nodding at the head table where Professor Sparkle had just entered, finding her seat near the end.

Alonzo looked at Professor Sparkle, then back at Dor and Isabel. "If she says yes, do you want in?"

Dor felt a tingle of excitement in her chest and smiled.

* * *

Dueling club took place at four in the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Madam Pince snorted when Dor told her about joining Professor Sparkle's club.

"You're the one who keeps telling me I need to get out of the library more. You said I was studying too hard, that my notes were running in circles," said Dor, as she tidied her study room.

Madam Pince looked up from where she was marking Dor's second draft of her term paper on the nature of planeswalking.

"Indeed I did. I thought you might enjoy reading fiction."

"I do," said Dor. "In fact I loved _There and Back Again_! The riddle game was beautifully done and facing down Smaug was so incredibly thrilling and Thorin..." Dor sighed sadly. "And just think, if Mr. Baggins hadn't decided to go on that adventure, hadn't decided to face his fears, Middle Earth would be a lot worse off."

Madam Pince smiled.

"However, I'm sure to run into Elmira or Mr. Quillon again, and I refuse to be a victim."

"You're safe from them here, at Hogwarts."

"Should I just live in the castle for the rest of my life?"

"Are you prepared to kill them?" Madam Pince asked.

Dor froze in the act of shelving _Quantum Physics and Parallel Worlds._ "Kill? I just want to be able to defend myself."

"And do you think that will stop them pursuing you across the multiverse?"

Dor bit her lip and shelved the book. "I don't know."

"I don't mean to dissuade you protecting yourself, Dorothy. But meeting your problems with violence is often the path to more violence."

Dor picked up _Theories of the Multiverse_. "Well, I did have another idea." She slid the book onto the shelf. "What would you think of falsifying research?"

Madam Pince spanked her bottom, quick and hard. Dor yelped and stepped out of reach before the irate librarian could spank her again.

"What would you think of a well-spanked bottom?" Madam Pince returned, looking over her spectacles sternly.

Dor put both hands under her skirt to rub her bottom vigorously. "It might be worth it."

Madam Pince raised an eyebrow at her.

"Let me explain," Dor said quickly. "Mr. Quillon told me the Infinite Library abhors a paradox. In _Considering L-Space_ the Librarian of the Unseen University says librarians traveling the multiverse shouldn't interfere with causality. I think I might be able to convince Mr. Quillon to commit a paradox and let him reap the consequences."

"Hmm." Madam Pince frowned. "What would you require?"

"A way to convince him the diadem used by Voldemort and destroyed by Mr. Potter wasn't Ravenclaw's _actual_ diadem. Maybe we could convince him Ravenclaw's daughter stole a fake. By all accounts, Ravenclaw was awfully clever."

Madam Pince snorted. "Any fool would see through such a ruse. No self-respecting librarian would believe such a claim without clear evidence. Primary sources."

Dor nodded. The sting in her bottom faded. She picked up her _Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey_ and shelved it. "You're right. And it's not like we can falsify primary sources."

Madam Pince smacked her bottom again, but gentler this time. Dor gasped and turned, both hands firmly on her bottom.

"I am a librarian, Ms. Dorothy. I do not approve of forging historical documents."

Dor sniffled back a tear. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

Madam Pince's expression softened. "That said, it's not a totally foolish idea."

Dor lifted her skirt to rub her bottom again. "It's not?"

"I'm fluent in five languages... I can disguise my handwriting... There are spells for aging documents..." Her expression turned thoughtful.

"Madam Pince?"

The librarian blinked and focused on Dor. She frowned faintly.

"Are... are you going to spank me?"

"I haven't decided yet. Do you really think a paradox will stop this man?"

Dor shrugged. "I don't know. But like you said, dueling might not work. So..."

Madam Pince pursed her lips. "Go on to your little club. Let me think on this."

Dor nodded. "Thank you, Madam Pince." Just to be safe, Dor didn't turn her back on the librarian as she left the study room.

* * *

Dueling club was a hit. At four o'clock, twenty students of varying ages filed into Professor Sparkle's classroom where, again, the desks and chairs had been removed to make way for the long dueling platform. Sandra and Aelf came, though neither was especially interested in dueling, and Dor got the impression from the bits of conversation she overheard some were here out of simple curiosity. The students who had approached her a few days ago in the great hall were all there. Alonzo gave her a grin, Karen a nod. They all looked proud and excited.

When Professor Sparkle showed up, she stood upon the platform and clapped her hands to gain their attention. "Good afternoon. I know you're probably excited to jump right into slinging spells, but that's not how a dueling club works, and if you think it is I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. We will be approaching dueling from a disciplined stance. I want to instill in this club a sense of safety and good sportsmanship. I will accept nothing less. Safety in a dueling club begins with wand care." Professor Sparkle spent the next ten minutes discussing methods for maintaining a wand and how to carry it so it was both at the ready and unlikely to be damaged. Dor noticed some students getting bored and wondered if Professor Sparkle was weeding out the merely curious.

Professor Sparkle reiterated her rules for safety, primary among them that 'wands down' meant stop immediately. Dor blushed and looked away.

Finally, they got to practicing spells. They stared with Expelliarmus, and Professor Sparkle invited Dor and Isabel onto the platform to demonstrate.

"You sure?" Dor asked quietly when she and Isabel were on the platform.

"Absolutely," said Professor Sparkle.

They demonstrated salute and ready, and when Professor Sparkle shouted "Begin!" they each fired the disarming charm. Isabel was quicker and Dor's wand was forced from her hand. The students applauded. In addition to Expelliarmus, Professor Sparkle taught them the stunning spell, Stupefy, and the shield spell, Protego. Though Dor felt a tickle at her shoulders, neither spell became a playing card in her mind that afternoon.

At the end of club, Professor Sparkle asked for volunteers for a practice bout.

"We'll only be using the three spells we practiced today," Professor Sparkle said.

Several students raised their hands, and in the end it was Isaac McKenzie and Sabine Andrea, a Slytherin third year. The bout was brief. Isaac cast Protego against Sabine's Expelliarmus, then followed up with a Stupefy. Sabine staggered back.

"Wands down!" Professor Sparkle shouted.

But Isaac flicked his wrist and said "Expelliarmus!"

Sabine's wand pinwheeled through the air.

Dor and Isabel looked at each other. A hushed murmur rippled through the students.

Professor Sparkle hopped upon the platform between the students as Isaac dropped his wand arm with a faint smirk. Professor Sparkle didn't look at him.

"That's enough for today," Professor Sparkle said. "Go have dinner, we'll meet again this time next week."

The crowd of students turned to head for the door. They were nearly there when Professor Sparkle called out again.

"Mr. McKenzie, stay a moment."

Dor felt herself shiver and blush. She kept her steady pace for the door even as another murmur took the crowd of students. She tried not to listen. Soon enough they entered the great hall just as dinner was appearing on the table. Dor was ravenous after the exertion of casting Expelliarmus over and over again. She and her friends ate heartily.

"I don't really think it's for me," said Aelf. "I think I'll stay focused on my potion work."

"Yeah," said Sandra. "Seems like an awful lot of work. I'm not sure why you guys want to take what amounts to an extra class."

"Because I want to be an auror," Isabel said.

Dor focused on her food, letting their conversation wash over her.

Several minutes later, Isaac squeezed into a spot at the Hufflepuff table near them, cheeks red, nose sniffly, shoulders sheepish. Dor looked up at him just as he looked up at her and they shared a moment, Issac squirming uncomfortably. Then he gave a small nod and applied himself to his food. No one at the Hufflepuff table gave him a hard time.

After dinner, Dor went to the Hufflepuff baths off the common room. The baths were one of the many wonders of Hogwarts School of Wizardry. There was a large communal pool of steaming water and several smaller, private baths where the temperature could be easily adjusted. There were all sorts of taps with all sorts of functions from soap to bubbles to things Dor didn't know what to do with. She generally just turned the water on hot and soaked for several minutes before scrubbing down and washing her hair.

"Mind if I join you?" Isabel asked as they walked into the changing room, bathrobes over their arms.

"What?" said Dor. "No, not at all."

Bathing at the orphanage had been a cold, brief affair of washing with lukewarm water from a bucket in a communal wash room. Dor had been briefly nude around the other girls many times, and she'd never been comfortable with it. But she got along with Isabel far better than the girls at the orphanage, so though she was sure her pale cheeks were red under her freckles, she tried to ignore her embarrassment.

She undressed in a curtained off cubby, tossing her clothes from the day into a small duffel bag before pulling on her bright yellow bathrobe. She and Isabel found a small, private bath that was empty. The communal bath was occupied by several sixth and seventh year Hufflepuff girls chatting amiably in small groups, their voices bouncing off the water in the large room, the air steamy. Once the heavy curtain was pulled on their small bath, most of the noise was blocked.

"I prefer it hot," said Isabel. "Do you have a preference?"

"Not the hottest," said Dor. She'd experimented with the taps her first time and found the hottest was too much for her.

Isabel nodded and fiddled with the taps until a steamy stream poured into the bath, mixed with a faint lavender scent. The bath was tiled with a mosaic of the Hufflepuff crest at the bottom and big enough for several to sit around the built-in bench at the perimeter. Isabel slipped off her robe and stepped into the bath, sitting, the water already at her knees. Dor had seen Isabel naked from time to time when changing in their dorm room, she was used to her smooth dark skin, the gentle curve of her bottom, her wide, dark nipples, but this felt different, intimate. Blushing, Dor also disrobed and stepped into the tub before taking the ribbons out of her hair and undoing the braids.

The side of the tub was sloped, allowing them to lean back and she rested her head on the rounded corner. The air got warm and thick and comfortable.

"What'd you think of dueling club?" Isabel asked.

"I liked it," said Dor. "I didn't learn either of the spells though."

"Why do you suppose that is?"

"I don't know. The workings of my spell book are a mystery to me. I don't know if I should focus and make it happen, or relax and let it happen, or something else entirely. But I definitely felt something."

Isabel nodded. After a while, she said, "I'm a little worried with the way Professor Sparkle started, some of them will think it's boring and quit."

"That's probably not so bad," said Dor. "If only those who are really interested stay, it might keep some nonsense out of the club."

"Good point."

They sat in silence but for the rush of water into the tub. When it reached their shoulders, the taps turned themselves off. Dor tried to let her mind drift.

"You're planning on leaving soon, aren't you?" Isabel said suddenly, her quiet voice carrying across the rippling surface of the bath.

"What? I... How did you know?"

"You've been pretty quiet the last few days. I mean, you've always been pretty shy, but I can tell you're thinking about something. You are, after all, a planeswalker, so I figured this meant you were preparing to leave."

Dor nodded. "It's not that I want to leave. Hogwarts is amazing and I've learned so much and I've made friends. But knowing Elmira is in Diagon Alley, knowing Mr. Quillon is not likely to give up... I must handle the situation. I don't want to always be looking over my shoulder. I don't want to hide."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm not sure. I've got a bit of a plan. Madam Pince is going to help me." Dor's bottom tingled.

"What if you're successful?" Isabel asked. "Would you come back?"

Dor considered. "I don't know."

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

Dor blushed. "I suppose."

"Are you in love with the water mage you told us about?"

The heat of Dor's cheeks was enough to bring tears to her eyes. She squeezed in on herself and sunk into the water up to her nose. After a while, she straightened. "The sisters at St. Bridget's were clear about the appropriate relationship between girls," Dor said.

Isabel snorted and made a dismissive gesture, splashing water. "I'm not concerned with the opinion of those mean old ladies from a hundred years ago."

The water had cooled, the stem had dissipated and Dor realized Isabel, sitting across from her, was closer than she'd thought. She blushed hard. She thought about all the nights she'd sniffled herself to sleep, thinking of Kya.

"I... I miss her. I think about her a lot. I really want to see her again. I don't know."

"I thought it might be something like that," Isabel said. She took a deep breath and went under the water. When she came up, she turned on one of the taps for a bit of shampoo. Dor followed suit.

After changing into their nighties, they joined their friends in the Hufflepuff common room. Johnny Boulder was making hot chocolate with mint extract. Dor gladly accepted a cup before going to bed early. Clad in her pale, yellow nightie, she put her wand in its holster under the pillow next to her. She closed her eyes and imagined the room in her mind. It came to her easily.

The bookshelf she had imagined at Madam Pince's direction had become a regular feature of the room. The spellbook appeared in her hands and she looked at Pince's Catalogue. In the art of the playing card, Madam Pince sat at her desk, surrounded by stacks of books. She looked calm and focused. And as Dor felt the magic tingle along her shoulders and to the playing card, she felt her own mind focus.

The uncomfortable thoughts Isabel had stirred in the bath settled and she was able to put them aside for the moment. She drew from the shelf _Considering L-Space_ by the Librarian at the Unseen University. Without opening the book, its contents were available to her. Even though some of it was still beyond her understanding, she could think about it in ordered parts.

According to the Librarian, all libraries were connected. The trick was figuring out how to get from one to the other. The light of the multiverse warmed in her chest and filled the room and Dor looked up to find a hallway had appeared. Dor walked to the hallway, her bare feet quiet on the wooden floor. She let the fingers of her right hand trail along the corridor wall. Soon the walls were lined with bookshelves and her fingers skimmed their spines. Her thoughts focused on Jubilee, her friend of only several hours with whom she'd shared a poptart and escaped mechanical spiders.

A moment later, she came to an opening on her right, fingers no longer touching books. She turned and found a new hallway of books. The shelves here were metal. The corridor led to a large open room with tall windows. It was summer on the other side of those windows unlike where she lay in bed at Hogwarts where winter was deep and Christmas was soon.

Sitting at a table with other kids their age was Jubilee. She was dressed in faded blue jeans and a bright pink shirt and a yellow jacket.

"Jubilee?" Dor called. But her voice did not carry through the bookshelves. She started to walk toward her friend but stopped herself. She didn't have her wand, she wasn't dressed, and she didn't know if she could replicate this feat. She turned back to the hallway of bookshelves in her mind and continued, the effect of Pince's Catalog still organizing her thoughts.

She took several more steps, thinking on Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn, not the professor, until, only moments later a break opened on her left. The wooden shelves in this hallway were smooth and curved and opened into a wide, round room, at the center of which, Twilight Sparkle lay with a book open in front of her, propped upon magic. Next to her sat a diminutive dragon with purple scales and green ridges—Spike was his name, she recalled. Twilight said something to him and he laughed, but Dor could hear neither.

She continued down her hallway and when next it opened found herself looking down a corridor of books at Minwu. She had expected to find the white mage in her healing ward tent, but recalled never having seen a book there. This was clearly a library with a wooden floor and wooden shelves. Minwu's hair was loose around her face, pale pink and shining, her robe was clean, free of mud and blood stains, and her belly was swollen. With a shock, Dor realized Minwu was pregnant. She was simultaneously thrilled for her friend and wondered how long it'd been since she'd left. Dor wanted to go to Minwu, but stopped herself again. If she could make this work again, there would be plenty of time to see Minwu.

Dor continued down the hallway in her mind, focusing now on Kya Chang and her parents. A new corridor did not open in her mind within moments as had the others, but she felt the warmth in her chest, the tingle along her shoulders, her mind ordered and focused. Finally a corridor did open. It was long and dim with a marble floor, and when Dor looked down it, she did not see Kya, nor anyone else for that matter. She knew, without knowing how, that this was Republic City. It wasn't an alternate or parallel version, but the version she knew.

Dor waited, in case Kya was about to walk by, but after several moments, sighed and moved on.

Her mind focused on Madam Pince and almost immediately a new corridor opened. Madam Pince sat at her desk, several stacks of books around her and one before in which she wrote with a quick, neat hand. Dor took a step down this side corridor and felt a tingle over her, like popping a soap bubble. She found herself no longer in the hallway in her mind but walking between bookshelves in the Hogwarts library. Soon she was at the half wall separating the rest of the library from Madam Pince's office. She knocked on the counter gently.

"Yes, I see you," said madam Pince. "Give me a moment."

Dor waited patiently while Madam Pince finished her writing.

Eventually the librarian set her quill aside and looked up. "I didn't hear you come in, Dorothy. In fact, I'm certain I locked the door. Have you taken to breaking into libraries late at night?"

"No," said Dor. "I would never. But I think I've discovered a way to direct my planeswalking. It has to do with L-Space, all libraries being connected."

"Hmm. The Librarian at the Unseen University," said Madam Pince

Dor nodded. She explained her most recent wandering. "The only thing I'm not sure of is that I started in the room in my mind, not in a library."

"Didn't you though? How many books have you read?"

"Sixty-seven," Dor said immediately. "Fifty-eight at St. Bridget's. Here I've read five books on planeswalking plus the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy and _There and Back Again_."

"And from you notes, I get the impression you don't forget much of what you've read. My hypothesis is that your mind is much like a library. And that'll be the key to your personal interdimensional travel."

Dor's eyes went wide. "Oh."

"In any case, you should be off to bed. I've a lot of work here, falsifying historical documents." She gave Dor an arch look.

Dor put a hand on her bottom reflexively.

"And, I'm sure you'll be happy to know, I've decided not to spank for it. Though I probably should."

Dor blushed.

"Can you go back the way you came or shall I escort you?"

Dor closed her eyes and pictured the room in her mind. A door stood now at one end, where the corridor had appeared. All along one wall where before there had been only one bookshelf, it was now filled with bookshelves. Without looking she knew each book upon it was a book she'd read. A small study table, much like the one in her study room, stood in the center of the room. Upon it was her spell book. In one corner, opposite the new door, was an overstuffed chair of faded grey with a black and yellow quilt folded over one arm.

Dor approached the doorway and it opened without being touched. Beyond was the book-lined corridor. She stepped into it, thinking of the Hufflepuff common room and after a few steps found a branching corridor. She turned down it and found herself in the corner of the common room where shelves were over-stuffed with books ranging from gardening to cooking to love poems. The common room was empty and quiet, the fire burning low.

Dor padded on bare feet to bed.

* * *

Dor ate more than she should have at the end of term feast. She'd given Madam Pince her term paper. It wasn't perfect, her writing style had plenty to improve upon, but it was well-organized and thorough and she was proud of herself.

The students of Hogwarts School of Wizardry were in rare form during the feast, and the professors allowed it. The great hall's ceiling mirrored the dark, snowy sky above and magical snow danced among the students. There was roast turkey and glazed ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams and rolls and cranberries, pumpkin pie and apple pie and every kind of pie Dor could think of. She had a taste of them all. When the feast was over and they'd been chivvied off to the basement, Dor was suffused with a warm, happy glow.

"We're heading off for Christmas break," said Isabel. "You gonna be okay without us?"

Dor shrugged. "I'll be fine."

"We have something for you," Isabel said.

"What?"

"Come on, silly," said Aelf. "We got you a present."

"Again?"

"The holster was for last Christmas," Sandra said. "This is for this Christmas."

"It's a laundry bag," Isabel said, pulling a box out from under her bed and handing it to her. "You know, in case you go traveling again soon." She gave Dor a pointed look. "It's got a special charm on it. Any clothing you put in the bag will be mended, laundered, dried and folded in half an hour."

Dor opened the box. It was a plain looking canvas bag with a drawstring around the opening. She pulled it from the box and fluffed it open to look inside. It looked perfectly normal.

"Try it," Sandra encouraged.

"You said it takes half an hour."

"Well, then you'll know in half an hour whether it works."

Dor picked up her dirty clothes for the day that she'd set aside for the house elves. She dumped it in the bag and drew the drawstrings closed. She felt a tingle of magic along the bag.

"Thank you, all of you. This is excellent. I'm sorry I couldn't get you anything. I don't have any money."

"That's quite all right," said Isabel.

They talked late into the night, Isabel, Aelf, and Sandra describing how they expected to spend the Christmas break. Isabel's family would be visiting the French countryside. Aelf's whole family was meeting at her great grandma's house on the Isle of Skye. Sandra's family had already begun preparing the series of feasts they'd be consuming.

After an hour or so, Dor remembered her present and looked in the bag. Sure enough, one set of school uniform clothes sat in the bottom, folded and still warm.

* * *

"Ms. Dorothy. I need to speak with you in my office."

Dor had just bid her friends goodbye and was headed back to the Hufflepuff basement when Madam Pince's voice stopped her. She turned to find Madam Pince fixing her with a stern look.

"Was there something wrong with my term paper?"

Madam Pince's expression softened. "No. Nothing like that. Though I do have a few notes. Come with me."

Dor let Madam Pince lead her to the library. The library was dark and quiet, abandoned but for them. A lantern on her desk illuminated Madam Pince's desk.

"I've finished," she said, gesturing at a trio of books. She tapped one. "This is an altered version of _Hogwarts, a History_. I've added a paragraph suggesting Rowena Ravenclaw created duplicate diadems to keep it out of the wrong hands. This whole book is a duplicate of my personal copy. I've notes throughout. On this fabricated paragraph I've written, simply, 'clever'."

She tapped the next book, a slim volume. "This is my personal notes on the Hogwarts founders. In it, I have created a suspicion about the real diadem's whereabouts. It's dated a decade before we found out what actually happened to it. This third book," she tapped the largest tome of them. "Is a transcription of the personal notes and diaries of Rowena Ravenclaw. This one is key and is completely fabricated. In it our false Rowena Ravenclaw writes about the diadem without naming it. She writes about concerns her daughter might steal it. And she writes about creating several duplicates. This suggests the Grey Lady stole a fake. That the item figuring so prominently in Mr. Potter's story wasn't Ravenclaw's actual diadem.

"If your Mr. Quillon is to find a time and place to steal the actual diadem, we want him to take it before the Grey Lady did, from Ravenclaw Tower itself. From her personal library. The way you've described him, I assume he likes to feel clever. Which means he's more likely to believe our deception if he thinks he's figured something out. I've marked all the pertinent passages.

"You know, of course, this must remain a secret between us. I cannot have it getting out I've falsified records. It would ruin my reputation."

Dor nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Here. I have something for you. It's not magical, just practical." Madam Pince opened a drawer in her desk and lifted out a leather satchel. "It's a bookbag. I thought you might find it useful in your travels." She put the books in the bag, then put the strap over Dor's head so it rested on her left shoulder and her right hip.

Dor's eyes brimmed with tears. "Thank you, Madam Pince." She hugged the old librarian firmly.

"Oh." Madam Pince said. "I..." She patted Dor's head. "You're most welcome."

* * *

After a quiet lunch in a mostly empty great hall, Dor returned to the second year dormitory of Hufflepuff basement.

Dor folded her Hogwarts uniform clothes and packed them in her new magical laundry bag. She found that, even full, once the drawstring was pulled, she could fold the bag to the size of a handkerchief. She tucked it into her new bookbag on top of her wand in its holster. She got dressed in the beige clothes Mr. Quillon had given her and made sure the falsified texts were all in her bookbag.

Closing her eyes, she pictured the room in her mind and the door on the far end. Her spellbook was open on the table and she touched the blue-bordered Pince's Catalogue. Immediately, her mind focused. With a thought, the door opened and she walked confidently down the book-lined corridor, concentrating on Mr. Quillon's Infinite Library.


	14. Infinite Library, Part 2

The book-lined hallway in the room in her mind stretched into forever. She walked steadily and focused her mind on the Infinite Library, its careful sameness, its bland coloring, its gently curving hallways. A hall opened on her left and she recognized it. She turned to walk down the hall and felt a tingling pop along her shoulders, confirmation she'd walked between planes.

Her mind was still calm and ordered from casting Pince's Catalogue, so when she looked up and down the curved hallway, she knew immediately which way was toward the large, circular room. The halls were silent but for a faint hiss of air, empty but for her.

When she entered the large room, she half expected to find Mr. Quillon sitting in the center of his circular desk, waiting for her, but there was no one. As far as she could tell there was no way to determine between one of the twelve hallways and any of the others leading from that central room in their gentle curves, but with her thoughts still ordered by Pince's Catalogue, it was easy to find her way.

In short order, she was climbing the stairs to the dormitory. She was nearly to the top when a familiar sound cut through the silence. The swish-crack of a thin bit of wood on a bare backside. Someone squealed in pain. Dor's heart leapt and her body froze. Instinctively she reached for the room in her mind and escape, but stopped herself. She was a practiced duelist now. She could take care of herself, and she had a goal to accomplish. Forcibly unclenching her teeth, Dor climbed the stairs and entered the common room.

She found a scene to make her swallow back bile.

A girl was bent over the arm of one of the plain beige couches of the common room. She was nude from tip to toe, though Dor only had a good look at her backside. Her lower back, bottom, hips, and thighs were all mottled with bruises of varying age and intensity. And over the top of those bruises was a vivid, angry, crosshatch of cruel weals from a sturdy rod.

Behind and to the side of the beaten girl stood Mr. Quillon. His plain, button up shirt was undone at the top, the sleeves rolled up, tail untucked. His long hair was pulled back but loose. Even the hair of his beard was wild and askew. His expression, however, remained calm, though firmly displeased. The rod he held in a white-knuckled fist was three feet of pale yellow wood, at least a thumb's width. The handle was stained a deep dark red and was long enough to be held two-handed.

As Dor watched, Mr. Quillon raised his rod high above his shoulder and swung as though he wanted to drive it through the body of his victim. The girl squealed again, high and ragged, silent, breath-stealing sobs shaking her body in the aftermath.

Somebody else chocked back a hiccoughing sob and Dor realized there were others in the room. Three girls grouped off to one side, watching. Dor recognized Jill Hook, the girl who'd shown her around the dormitory, who'd laughed when Dor had blasted Elmira with Jubilee's Dazzler. She stood tall, grim, and still, her long brown hair braided tightly. The other two she didn't recognize. One was a round girl with raven curls and a small, cruel smile. The third was short and young, she had lightly tilted eyes and olive skin. She looked vaguely familiar, though Dor couldn't place her. All three wore the same beige uniform of button up shirt, pleated skirt, and knee-high stockings, that Dor did.

Mr. Quillon raised the rod again, and Dor spoke up.

"Mr. Quillon?"

His head turned to face her slowly, arm still raised. After several moments more, his body shifted also, slowly, as though it took effort, he lowered his arm.

"And where have you been?"

"I…" Dor's glance flicked from Mr. Quillon to the beaten girl and back. "I was at Hogwarts. I was doing what you asked me to, researching Ravneclaw's Diadem."

He took a step toward her and Dor took a step back down the stairs.

"For three and a half months?"

"Well… yes." Dor nodded. "The… Madam Pince read your letter and… well I had to do a lot of research myself… and…" Dor dug frantically in to her bookbag and withdrew the books. "Here. This is what we found."

Mr. Quillon licked his lips. He looked at the books, expression shifting from firm to interested. "How certain are you of these documents?"

"I'm certain I found them in the Hogwarts library. I'm not quite sure what they mean, but Madam Pince seemed to think this is what you were looking for."

Mr. Quillon whipped his rod in a tight circle so it tucked under his arm. It cut through the air with a swish that made Dor jump. He held out his hands and Dor put the books in them.

"Very well. Come with me, Ms. Dorothy." He pushed past her and strode down the stairs. Dor watched him go, stunned. She felt like she was made of stone, her mind frozen. She had expected Mr. Quillon to be skeptical. She had expected to have to explain herself. She had even expected she might fail. She hadn't expected the scene that greeted her. She was about to follow him when she remembered the beaten girl.

Slowly, Dor turned to face the common room again. The girls who'd been watching looked at her now. Unable to meet their collective gaze, she looked at the beaten girl, still draped over the couch arm. For all Sister Mary Margaret's cruelty, she'd never done _that_. Magic tingled along her shoulders and she reached into her bag for her wand. She stepped up to the girl, letting Minwu's Cura drift through her mind and touched her wand to the girl's back. The girl was sobbing, choking back the sound, shuddering, and when Dor's wand touched her, she twitched and whimpered. Pale blue light rippled across the girl's body. Bruises faded, weals receded, in moments, all marks of violence were gone.

Dor took a step back. The girl straightened, breathing hard. She turned to face Dor, cheeks red, expression relieved. It was Elmira Gulch. Her wavy brown hair had been cut short and was slicked back to her head with sweat. Her brown eyes were wide and red-rimmed. Her cheeks were flush. There was none of the fury or malice Dor was used to seeing. For several moments, Elmira looked like a scared, tired little girl. Then her lips twisted into a snarl and her brown eyes shifted to sullen orange.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Elmira demanded.

"I was in the castle," said Dor. "Like I was supposed to be. Where were you?"

Elmira scoffed. "I was that shithole town outside the castle. I could see it, but I could never get close, no matter what I did. People started asking questions, so I skipped town and tried to hide, but…" she cleared her throat to disguise a sob and shrugged. She crossed her arms in front of her chest awkwardly, as though just remembering she was nude. "But there's no hiding from the boss." She glanced at the trio of girls still watching. "Isn't that right?"

Jill Hook shrugged. "Wouldn't know."

The round girl giggled, her tone high and flighty.

Elmira turned to face them, hands igniting. "Laugh like that again, bitch."

The third girl, the one Dor thought looked vaguely familiar, scurried away and down the hall.

"Easy now," said Dor. "He's gone. No one here is going to hurt you." She reached out an imploring hand.

Elmira turned her fury back on Dor. Dor gripped her wand a little tighter.

"You think I'm afraid of him? You think I'm afraid of you? He's pissed because he thought I'd lost you. He's pissed because you were hiding all safe and warm in that castle the last few months and I was wandering around back alleyways trying to figure out how to get to you."

"I didn't know… I didn't know he was hurting you. I was trying to complete the mission."

Elmira sighed. The fire in her hands went out, but the glowing orange anger in her eyes remained. "Whatever. He got what he wanted." She stalked away, down the hall to the dorm room.

Dor gave a sigh of relief.

Jill Hook watched Elmira go, then scoffed. "Welcome back," she said to Dor before following Elmira.

"That was quite the show, wasn't it?" said the round girl with curly black hair. Her voice was high, prim, and proper. "I'm Queenie Heart. And you, you're the other new girl. It's absolutely delicious to meet you. Elmira hates you, you know."

Dor nodded. "That has been made clear."

"She didn't even thank you for healing her. How terribly rude." Though Queenie's words were sincere, her tone held an edge of sarcasm, her expression a hint of mocking. "Of course, Mr. Quillon has never beaten me. I'm his favorite. Speaking of which, didn't he tell you to go with him?"

Dor's heart leapt. She spun and fled down the stairs, chased by Queenie's girlish giggles.

In the large, round room, she found Mr. Quillon coming up the stairs in the center of his circular desk. He wore rugged, worn, faded grey pants, a plain beige shirt, and a sturdy leather jacket. He wore a shoulder bag, not unlike her own, but worn from use. In his right hand, he carried the rod with which he'd beaten Elmira.

"Ms. Dorothy. There you are." Mr. Quillon smiled at her.

Dor couldn't help a shiver of fear.

"Turns out your efforts were not wasted. It's almost too easy." He grinned, exuberant. "The estimable Hogwartian librarian has evidence to suggest the item I require was not, in fact, the one stolen by Ravenclaw's daughter and perverted by Tom Riddle. Instead, it was a fake that played a role in stories, removing paradox from the equation. In short, Ms. Dorothy, we can recover the real diadem from the prime Wizarding World universe."

"We?" said Dor.

Mr. Quillon ignored her. He withdrew from the coat of his pocket a small silvery box with a blue button. "I've calibrated the portal to take us to Ravenclaw Tower. After Ms. Gulch's inability to teleport into the castle itself, I realized the school's defenses were better than anticipated. Fortunately for us, I've been studying every permutation of that castle for decades now."

His grin wide, Mr. Quillon tapped the tip of his rod against the floor, like a walking stick, then gestured for her to join him within the circular desk. Dor hesitated a moment. She didn't know where the section that lifted was, but she'd already made him wait, even if he didn't seem to care, and she didn't want to give him any reason to shift his grip on that rod. She hurried to the edge of the desk, lifted herself on to it, then scooched her butt across to land her feet on the other side.

"Are you sure you want me to go with you?" Dor asked, certain she'd rather not.

"Of course!" He wrapped one arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. "I knew you were special. Not like the others. I had a feeling about you, Ms. Dorothy. That's why I didn't harvest your spark."

"Harvest?"

"You'll come with me, of course, to witness my triumph, my escape from this dreadful mindcage."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dor said, wishing he'd release her. He still clutched his rod in the hand of the arm holding her close.

"I'm a prisoner, Ms. Dorothy, imprisoned within a mindcage that became this, the Infinite Library, where I could read every story there ever was, could, or will be. What my jailers didn't count on was me learning how to harvest planeswalker sparks."

He thrust out the hand holding the silvery metal box.

"It's amazing what you can learn when you have access to every bit of every story of every multiverse. It's not unlike what Memnarch tried with Mirrodin. But rather than subsume the spark myself, I've managed to embed it in a device. They run out of course, but there are always new sparks to harvest."

"But you didn't harvest mine," said Dor.

"Well of course not, Ms. Dorothy. You're my favorite." He squeezed her shoulders. "You're clever. You can learn. And I knew from the moment of that glitch, you would be the one to lead me to the diadem."

He pressed the button and a vertical slit of light appeared before them, growing until it was seven feet tall, then slowly twisting into a doorway of shining light.

He shoved her toward the light and she stumbled through.


	15. Ravenclaw's Tower

The teeth-itching discomfort of stepping through the portal grated at her shoulders and made her long for the Hogwarts baths. She took a breath and looked around. They were in a large circular room, every bit of wallspace taken up with bookshelves, each book meticulously placed and labeled.

Mr. Quillon stepped through the portal after her and took her right arm in hand, just under the armpit. His grip was firm. "Come along, Ms. Dorothy. If they're paying attention, it won't be long before they realize I've escaped the mindcage. Assuming I've deciphered Madam Ravenclaw's journals correctly, she's hidden the real diadem in a secret compartment in this room, her private library, while leaving a fake for her daughter to find in her sleeping chamber. What a fool the Grey Lady was."

Dor bit her tongue. She wanted to lash out, to jerk away, to tell him he was the fool, but if this was to work, she had to remain cowed.

"We must be careful," Mr. Quillon said. "If anyone suspects that anybody has been in Ravenclaw's private library, much less stolen the real diadem, the Infinite Library will react to protect causality, likely by erasing us. I've seen it, and it's not pretty. So, caution, Ms. Dorothy."

"How do we know where it is?" Dor asked.

"We look," said Mr. Quillon. "You're nearly as clever as I am. Between the two of us we should be able to figure it out. But again, be careful. Nothing must be out of place."

Dor nodded and swallowed.

It seemed an inordinate risk for Mr. Quillon. Not only to leave the Infinite Library when he thought he might be perused, but to trust her to help him steal the diadem. He barely knew her. Why did he trust her?

 _But of course,_ she reminded herself, _he's been watching me. He knows how I cringe when someone raises their voice at me. How I do what I'm told when I'm given a stern look. How I'm afraid to be spanked. He thinks I'll do what I'm told because that's what I've always done. Because he's in charge and I'm not. Because I saw him cane Elmira's bare backside. And what's more, he's right. Or at least, he was. That's how I've always behaved. But I want to be stronger, braver, better._

Her plan relied on Mr. Quillon finding the diadem before Ravenclaw's daughter. To take it, to create paradox within this universe, and to let the Infinite Library free her of him. Which meant she had to help him find it.

Not knowing what else to do. She walked to the bookshelves and walked around the room counter clockwise, letting her fingers brush the spines at waist level, as she had in the library in her mind. After several steps, a dozen heartbeats, she felt that tingle at her shoulders and knew she was close. This library resonated with her. She felt as comfortable here as she had in Madam Pince's library.

She was tempted to do so now, to flee Mr. Quillon but knew doing so only invited him to send Elmira, and perhaps the others, to pursue her and bring her back to his Infinite Library, to beat her with his cane.

No. She had to go through with it. She had to trap him in paradox.

Her whole body snapped with a tingle and she stopped, her eyes immediately finding the spine of a book. It was leather, dyed a deep purple, and stamped with golden lettering. _Riddles of the Ultrasphinx_. Certain without knowing how, Dor pulled the book from the shelf. It was a slim volume, but it felt heavy in her hands. It reminded her of the playing cards of her mental grimoire. There was more to this book than paper and ink.

"Mr. Quillon?" She opened the book to the first page upon which was written:

 _What happens when the Unstoppable Force meets the Immovable Object?_

Dor pursed her lips, considering.

It was presented as a riddle, but Dor immediately wondered if it was a parable. It asked what happened when they met, not when the one struck the other. Which implied, perhaps, that the Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object might be entities. People with goals and desires who'd come into conflict with one another.

Mr. Quillon came up beside her and looked over her shoulder. "What do you mean?" He snapped. "Why would this book," he plucked it from her hands, "have anything more to do with the diadem than any other?" He flipped through the pages, snapped it shut, and turned it over.

Dor hunched and stepped back even as her mind continued to work. She imagined the Unstoppable Force, with a goal in front of her. Then imagined the Immovable Object standing in her way. There could be a fight, but then what? Who would win? Would either achieve their goal? Or was there another way? A way to achieve their goals without striking each other. What if they…

"They Yield," she said aloud.

The bookshelf in front of her did not move, but somehow there was a small cabinet where there had been none before. Perhaps her eyes had simply slid over it before. Perhaps it had been in otherdimensional space. Perhaps it had hid by some magic Ravenclaw had developed. The answer of it tickled at the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite grasp it.

"They yield? Why? That…" Mr. Quillon's eyes lit upon the cupboard. He smiled. "Well, I don't know how you did it, Ms. Dorothy, but I'm impressed. When this is done, I think I'll keep you."

Dor swallowed hard and cringed away. She hated that she did it. She wished she'd done it on purpose, to bolster what he thought of her, but deep down she was still little more than a frightened girl.

The cabinet opened easily and within rested the silver diadem set with a large blue stone at its center and bearing the inscription: _Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure_. If Madam Pince was correct, this was the real diadem of Ravenclaw. If Mr. Quillon was correct, it was from the prime universe. And if Dor was lucky, him taking it would trap him in paradox.

Mr. Quillon grabbed her arm and pulled her up to the cabinet. "Take it," he ordered.

"Me? But I thought—"

Mr. Quillon popped her bottom with the flat of his hand. It wasn't a hard spank. It barely stung through her clothes. And yet, it sprang tears to her eyes.

"Do I need to take you over my knee?"

Dor shook her head quickly. Hands trembling, she did as she was told, fearing at any moment the Infinite Library would strike her down. But when she touched the diadem, she felt only the cool of the silver against her fingers. She withdrew it from the cabinet and held it out to Mr. Quillon who backed up several steps. He looked around, hesitating for several moments, as though waiting for something to happen. But when nothing did, he broke into a manic grin and snatched the diadem from her fingers.

For a moment, and then another, Dor's heart plummeted through a terrifying void. She'd failed. Perhaps Madam Pince had been wrong. Perhaps this wasn't the prime realm. Perhaps any number of other things had gone wrong and now she'd given Mr. Quillon the very tool he needed. Then she felt a tremor in her shoulders, like a million books falling from their shelves all at once. She put her hands behind her back and took several steps back.

Mr. Quillon laughed cautiously. He put the diadem over his head and slowly lowered it.

Dor's back met the books and eased into them, as though they gave way for her. As though she might push herself though them into a hidden passageway. The wall of books felt more like the surface of a bath, an ancient bit of parchment, the shifting sands of the multiverse, rippling and unstable.

Mr. Quillon put the diadem upon his head, grin manic.

Dor fell backward through the wall of books, landing hard on her butt. Wincing, she looked up at the man but her attention was immediately drawn to the shifting reality behind him. The books of Roweena Ravenclaw's private library tumbled from their shelves, stacking themselves into the vague shape of a humanoid torso with great hulking arms and a cavernous, shadowed space where a face might go. A pair of blue lights flickered open, like the eyes of causality burning through the paradox she'd created.

Her shoulders twinged painfully and a blue-bordered playing card floated through her mind.

 **Animate Library** **4UU**

 **Tribal Enchantment – Librarian Aura**

Enchant your library

Enchanted library is an artifact creature on the battlefield with power and toughness each equal to the number of cards in it. It's still a library.

If enchanted library would leave the battlefield, exile Animate Library instead.

Dor scrambled backward and up to her feet, chest hammering tightly against the fear. The creature made of books loomed over Mr. Quillon but he'd yet to notice. He was staring through to nowhere, expression intent. The creature of books raised its hands above Mr. Quillon's head.

"Yes. Of course. It's so simple. I…" Then he blinked and turned to face the creature. He had bare a chance to start before the creature brought its hand upon him, obliterating him into motes of light and nothing.

Dor took several steps back.

The book elemental fixed its eyes upon her. And though it had no legs, it moved toward her, the books opening and closing, pages fluttering, spines creaking.

Dor turned and fled.


	16. Garden Sanctuary

Dor sprinted through the book-lined hallway in her mind. A sharp crack at her shoulders told her she'd left the Wizarding World, hurtling now through L-Space. Behind her the elemental of books and causality, soul of the Infinite Library, roared, a sound like falling books and shredding paper and whispered admonition.

She chanced a look back. The elemental had grown taller and wider, too big for the narrow mental hallway through which she ran. Its shoulders brushed the shelves, dislodging books, some of which slotted between others in the creature, adding to it.

Dor reached, desperate for help, through L-Space. At first, she reached for her friends: Jubilee or Twilight Sparkle, Minwu or Kya, Isabel or Madam Pince, but immediately thought better of it. That creature had smote Mr. Quillon in a blink and she didn't want to bring it down upon anyone else. So instead she reached, just reached, as far as she could through L-Space, with that tingle along her shoulders, to somewhere away, somewhere without books.

The creature roared again.

Dor stumbled and tripped. Reflexively, she reached to catch herself. Her ears popped and her shoulders stung and a vivid pink light filled her vision. Her knee cracked upon a stone ledge and pain shot up and down her leg, bright fire tearing breath from her body. Dor pitched forward, certain she was about to meet stone with her bare palms. Instead, she tumbled into water. The water wasn't deep and, after a few desperate moments, Dor got her feet under her. She stood, sputtering, to find herself waist deep in a large stone fountain. At the center of the fountain was a stone statue of a large woman with a mass of curly hair. The fountain was fed by the stone woman's tears.

Dor caught herself staring. Even though she was just a stone statue, the woman was beautiful, with motherly proportions and serene expression. The sight of the statue sent a shiver though her and Dor realized she didn't hurt. She looked at her knee which, moments ago had pierced with pain, but found no hint of damage. The water was cool but not cold and tingled faintly on her skin even as it soaked her through.

Dor went to the edge of the fountain and the stone ledge upon which she'd banged her knee. The stone was polished smooth. She pulled herself up to sit on the ledge and swiveled about to put her feet on the flagstones of the courtyard at which the fountain was centered. All around the courtyard was a massive tangle of bushes blooming with bright pink roses. The scent of the flowers perfumed the air, gentle but noticeable.

Dor gathered up her auburn braid and wrung the water from it. She was about to reach through the multiverse again, certain the book elemental wasn't finished chasing her, when she heard a voice.

"Is that a human in the fountain? How did it even get into the garden?" The voice was high, slightly nasal.

Dor looked around and found an arched entry on the far side of the courtyard where stood a pair of women. One was tall, at least seven feet. She had broad shoulders and hips and a full bosom. Her hair was thick and pink and fell about her shoulders in curls. She was obviously the same woman depicted in the stone statue at the center of the fountain.

"Don't worry," said the shorter of the two, the same who'd gotten Dor's attention. "I'll get rid of it." She was shorter, but still taller than Dor, and slim with pointed features, blue eyes, and pale skin. She marched toward Dor with firm intent.

"Pearl. Wait." The large woman with pink hair put a hand on the slim woman's shoulder. The slim woman, Pearl, stopped immediately.

Dor blinked at them, hesitating. She couldn't stay, but she felt she at least owed them an explanation as to why she was in their garden.

The large one with pink hair approached, Pearl keeping just a pace behind. Her pale pink and white skirts rustled gently as she walked. Dor could see her feet were bare. Most curiously, there was a star-shaped cutout of her dress centered on her navel, and there was set a bright pink, faceted gemstone.

"It's all right," said the pink-haired woman. "We're not going to hurt you." She put a hand to her voluptuous chest. "I'm Rose Quartz. And this is Pearl. What's your name?"

"Dor."

Rose Quartz chuckled. "Really? That's a strange name for a human."

"It's short for Dorothy." Dor added quickly. "I sincerely apologize for invading your garden. I didn't mean to."

"It shouldn't be possible," said Pearl, tone accusatory.

Dor looked at the slim woman. From afar she'd looked delicate, like a toy ballerina in a pale blue, skin-tight leotard, pink leggings, and a frilly sort of shawl. But up close there was a strength about her. She had a yellow star upon her chest, much like the cutout at Rose Quartz' navel. It reminded Dor of a heraldic symbol. And in the slim woman's forehead was embedded a smooth, shiny pearl.

Dor felt a tremble along her shoulders, like the heavy footsteps of a giant made of tomes. She smelled the faint dust of books long forgotten. She cleared her throat nervously. "I should be going."

"Excellent," said Pearl.

"Must you?" said Rose Quartz. "Are you in a hurry?"

Dor nodded. "I'm not from this world. And there's something—"

Rose Quartz stood up straighter, expression startled. Pearl took a step back and the gem at her forehead glowed faintly.

"Not from this world? But you are a human, aren't you?" asked Rose Quartz.

Dor nodded. "I'm being pursued by a monster and I don't want you to get caught up in—"

"A monster?" said Pearl. Her expression turned hard and determined. She looked up at Rose Quartz who looked down at her. "We can't let it hurt a human."

Rose Quartz gave Pearl a small nod and a faint grin then looked at Dor. "We can talk about how you got into my magically sealed garden sanctuary later. For now, you should stay with us. We have a lot of experience protecting humans from monsters.

"Oh," said Dor. "But I..."

"Just stay hidden," said Pearl. "We will protect you."

Dor's thoughts fluttered and shook. "No, no it's... It's coming for me. I..."

Pearl put her hands at her forehead, cupping the gemstone which shone brightly. A shape took form from the light, resolving into a massive, bright pink scabbard embossed with a rose emblem, which dropped into Pearl's hands. She held it out to Rose Quartz. In Rose Quartz' hands, the sword seemed right, like it was made specifically for her. Rose Quartz drew the blade in a quick motion and tossed the scabbard aside. She put her hand to her own bright pink gemstone at her navel. It glowed and a moment later a shield of light with that same rose emblem at its center was affixed to her left arm.

When Dor had first seen the tall, pink-haired women only minutes ago, she'd thought her beautiful, motherly. Now she was a proud, confident warrior. Dor would never had conflated the two before now.

Pearl put her hands to her forehead gemstone again and this time withdrew a pair of long, slim swords with curving guards and bright blades. She held them one in each hand and took a balanced stance, reminding Dor of Kya preparing to waterbend.

Dor tried to object. To tell them they needn't protect her, that she should run, but she felt the animate library charging down the corridors of her mind, pursuing her even to this place where there were no books. It wasn't a planeswalker, she knew, it was a sort of elemental, a creature composed of the Infinite Library's abhorrence for paradox, and for the creator of that paradox. It was coming to erase her. It was coming for her because it was tied to her, anchored to her mind.

There was no escaping it. She couldn't run forever, which meant she had to face it.

A piercing headache struck through from her right temple to her left. For a moment there was nothing else. For a moment she knew nothing but that pain. It drove every other thought and sensation from her, and that moment stretched into forever until it broke, shattering. A rippling whorl of space and thought coalesced at the far side of the garden courtyard.

Rose Quartz and Pearl turned to face it, Rose with shield up and sword high, Pearl just in front as though she were the tall woman's bodyguard.

The rippling of space and flapping of pages resolved into a giant composed of books, the bright blue points of light that were its eyes focusing upon Dor.

"It's made of books?" said Pearl. "I've never see anything like this."

"There must be a corrupted gem in there somewhere," said Rose Quartz. "Much as it pains me, we'll have to tear apart the books to get to it. I'll draw its attention. You flank it."

Pearl gave a curt nod.

Rose Quartz launched herself at the book elemental, speeding through the space between with dizzying speed and a gleeful warcry. She slashed her massive sword at the creature of books, cutting through it like water. The creature roared in a rain of tattered covers, shredded paper, and ancient dust. Rose Quartz took a step back, put her sword low and raised her shield, bracing herself with a low, solid stance just as the book elemental brought a fist down. Dor whimpered and winced, fearing what had happened to Quillon would happen to this giant woman warrior. But the fist rang like a bell against the pink shield of light.

Suddenly, the thin, pale woman, Pearl, leapt in from the creature's left and just behind. She landed on its shoulder and swept her dual swords through its neck. The creature roared again. Another spray of dust and torn paper scattered through the air. As the book elemental swatted at the lithe woman, Pearl leapt away and Rose thrust hard, taking it in the middle as Pearl landed behind her with a grace far exceeding that of any human.

"It's not disintegrating!" Pearl shouted.

Dor felt a tingle along her shoulders. She wanted to help, she wanted to fight back. She wanted to never feel helpless again. Cursing her slowness while marveling at the way Rose Quartz and Pearl leapt so effortlessly into action, Dor reached into her new bookbag and withdrew her wand. Despite her thorough dunking in the fountain, the interior of the bag was dry and her wand was warm in her hand.

She took a breath, closed her eyes and...

In the room in her mind, bookshelves lined every wall, full and neatly organized. In one corner of the room sat the comfy chair with a black and yellow quilt folded neatly upon it. In the center of the room was her study table. On the other side of the table, a narrow door interrupted the bookshelves. And on the center of the table was the book of pocket pages, her spell book, her grimoire.

At a thought, the grimoire opened to show her spells, first white, then blue:

Harry's Expelliarmus

Jubilee's Dazzler

Minwu's Cura

Minwu's Lifa

Twilight's Blink

Kya's Waterbending

Pince's Catalogue

All seven of her spells were curative or defensive. The book elemental held no weapons, so Harry's Expelliarmus was no help. Jubilee's Dazzler might work if those points of light really were eyes. Her only mildly offensive spell was Kya's Waterbending, but the only water about was from the fountain and she was reasonably certain that was healing water. She wasn't about to douse the book elemental in healing water.

What she needed just now was a way to fight back. An offensive spell like...

A pair of red-bordered cards flitted through her mind. They were familiar. She'd seen them before. On a rooftop in New York City, on a narrow street in Republic City. She grasped for them, but felt her shoulders clench.

...Dor let out the breath and opened her eyes, wand at the ready.

"Pearl! It's time to introduce this monster to Rainbow Quartz!"

With a mighty kick, Rose Quartz sent the monster staggering back, making room for herself and Pearl to stand side by side. The magic at Dor's neck tingled and sizzled, warm and exciting.

Pearl raised her arms above her head and pirouetted, graceful and deadly, swords still in hand. Rose Quartz dismissed her shield in a flash of light, lifted her skirts, and sashayed toward Pearl, wide hips swaying. Pearl spun into Rose Quartz' arms, the larger woman cradling the smaller in a tender embrace. The two were as elegant in dance as they were fearsome in battle.

Dor's cheeks grew warm and the tingle at her neck spread to her shoulders and down her spine. Red-bordered cards...

Rose Quartz and Pearl glowed as the book elemental recovered and lumbered for them. Rose pulled Pearl in tight and the glow intensified until, in less than a moment, the glow became a flash and where had stood two warrior women, now there was one.

Rainbow Quartz was nearly twice as tall as Rose Quartz with long, flowing hair like a pastel rainbow, reminding Dor of Princess Celestia on Equestria. She was tall and lithe and she held in one hand Rose Quartz's immense blade and in the other one of Pearl's smaller, slimmer blades. Rainbow Quartz drew herself to her full height and turned her profile to the book elemental, Rose's sword held horizontal, Pearl's sword held at her back, as though hiding it.

Dor's body suffused with a tingle she didn't have a moment to examine, for the creature of books attacked again. Rainbow Quartz took a shuffling step backward and the pink shield of light manifested, hanging upon magic, to deflect the blow. The creature roared with all the fury of a librarian and swung again. Rainbow Quartz darted to the side and thrust with her pink blade, catching the creature upon its torso. She was at least as tall as the book elemental now, and the two engaged in combat, Rainbow Quartz lithe and graceful, the book elemental ponderous but powerful.

Dor took another breath as all around her scraps of torn paper swirled. The tingle at her shoulders exploded in her mind and she saw red.

A pair of red-bordered playing cards invaded her vision and she closed her eyes to see again the room in her mind. Her grimoire was open, and two new cards, two cards she'd seen before, two cards that made her tingle uncomfortably, had taken their places after the blue-bordered:

Elmira's Fire Whip

Elmira's Flame Javelin

In the first, Elmira stood upon a graveled surface, backdrop dark, highlighting the curling whip of fire she grasped in one hand, eyes bright orange, grin manic. In the second, Elmira hurled a flame at an unseen target, hair wild, sparks trailing from her shoulders in a delicate, deadly dance.

Dor swallowed hard and peered at her grimoire, the first nine-pocket page now full with nine cards, nine spells. It felt right, it felt complete, it felt like power at her fingertips, power to fight back, power to protect herself. Even with the cruel girl who'd pursued her across the multiverse depicted on those red cards.

Dor opened her eyes, summoned the power within and pictured the red-bordered Flame Javelin. It was warm in her mind, and powerful, waiting to be let out, wanting to be cast. She took a stance learned from Kya. She imagined standing in Professor Sparkle's classroom. She felt the power swell within her. And when Rainbow Quartz struck with her large pink blade, spun to strike again with the slimmer, then danced back, Dor took a step forward and thrust with her wand.

The spear of flame arced at the creature, crashing into its shoulder with a roar of fire and wave of heat. The book elemental staggered. It hurt Dor's heart to see books burning, to smell the ash, and she had to remind herself this was a creature of paradox and causality and was trying to erase her from existence.

Rainbow Quartz looked back at her, stunned, then smiled broadly, two sets of eyes, blue set atop black, wide with approval.

Dor took several steps back trying to breathe carefully as billowing black smoke gushed into the air. The smell of burning books clogged her face and hurt her heart. But still the creature made for her. Rainbow Quartz thrust her hand out and a massive shield of pink like burst into existence, knocking the book elemental back.

Dor reached again from the Flame Javelin in her mind and as soon as the shield of light dissipated, she took a step forward and thrust with her wand again. She imagined Professor Sparkle lecturing about proper footwork and solid grip. The flame javelin took the book elemental low on its left side. It staggered for several steps, losing its balance and falling to its knees. Rainbow Quartz took the opportunity. She leapt and came down in a strong, overhand strike with the great pink-handled blade. If it'd been any sort of regular creature, shed had decapitated it. As it was, she sprayed dust and ash, paper and leather swirling through the courtyard.

The creature roared again, pushing to its feet, knocking rainbow Quartz back. Even stumbling the giant woman was elegant and she regained her footing quickly, but eh book elemental was charging for Dor and the girl didn't know if the giant woman would be able to protect her, so she cast the fire spell again. The tingle along her shoulders, up and down her spine, filling the base of her skull, snapped hard and she felt hot all over, a stinging heat like an open palm against a naked bottom. She felt faint for a moment and thought the spell wouldn't resolve, then it ripped from her and she knew she'd exhausted herself of mana.

The gout of flame struck the creature square in its face.

Smoke and ash and dust billowed from the creature, coating Dor in a greasy film. She staggered way, coughing, wiping at her face as tears streamed from her eyes. She felt frail as a sheet of paper, parched and tremulous.

In a gentle flash of light, Rainbow Quartz unfused, Rose Quartz and Pearl once again.

Rose Quartz approached Dor with a wide smile.

"A human with magic! I didn't think such a thing was possible! But, of course, you said you're not from this world. Do all humans on your world have magic?"

Dor wiped at her cheeks and shook her head. "I..." She sighed. "It's kind of a long story." Her voice felt thin and tremulous. Mr. Quillon was gone. The book elemental was gone. There was no one after her and the multiverse was no further than the room in her mind. She could see Twilight Sparkle and Jubilee and Minwu and apologize for leaving so abruptly. She could see her fellow Hufflepuffs and Madam Pince. She could see Kya...

"Oh, why are you crying? The monster's gone, it's all right," Rose Quartz said, voice low and gentle.

Dor nodded.

"Rose, I can't find it," Pearl said. "I don't think this monster was a corrupted gem."

Rose Quartz knelt next to Dor. "Can you explain this?" she asked gently.

Do nodded again. She took a breath, but it was shaky. She tried to clear her throat but that only encouraged the sobs. Next thing she knew she was crying uncontrollably, and no matter how she chided herself for being weak, especially in front of these women who were so strong, elegant, and adept, she couldn't make herself stop. Next thing she knew, Rose Quartz had scooped her into her large arms. They were broad and soft, but with an undeniable strength. The woman smelled faintly of roses.

"You're bringing her with us?" said Pearl, incredulous.

"She knows about the monster," said Rose Quartz. "Besides, she's clearly distraught."

Pearl sighed. "Well, yes." Her tone turned gentle. "I suppose there is that."

Embarrassed, Dor closed her eyes and let herself cry into Rose Quartz' shoulder. A short walk later, they stopped and Dor opened her eyes long enough to see another small courtyard hemmed by rosebushes. Then they were enveloped in a blueish white light and gravity left them. Dor closed her eyes again.

When they landed, Dor looked again, tears subsiding.

"Do you want me to put you down?" Rose Quartz asked.

Dor nodded. "Yes, please."

Rose Quartz set Dor carefully upon her feet, as though handling a delicate figurine. Dor looked around to find they were in a shallow cave with a peculiar door in the back wall before a circular crystalline pad.

"Are you ready to tell me about yourself?" Rose Quartz asked.

Dor took a breath and did not feel like she was about to cry. "I am."

Rose Quartz led Dor down out of the cave to a sandy beach where the ocean lapped gently, a velvet night under jeweled stars overhead. Dor had never seen the ocean before, never smelled its salt air. It was remarkably beautiful. Pearl joined them, close enough to be near, but giving them some space for privacy. Dor wondered if the thin woman really was the larger woman's bodyguard.

"That monster wasn't from this world any more than I am," Dor said. She started at the beginning, and when she was done, she was crying again, of relief she realized.

"That's quite a story," said Rose Quartz.

"I suppose you don't believe me?"

The large woman shrugged. "I've got my own story of traveling between worlds. Gems aren't from Earth."

Dor nodded. Another planet named Earth, another set of super-powered beings. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

Rose Quartz sighed. "Another time maybe."

On the horizon, over the ocean, the sky lightened. Morning was coming. Dor's stomach grumbled. Rose Quartz laughed.

"I suppose you're hungry?"

Dor nodded, sheepish.

Rose Quartz turned to Pearl, still nearby. "Do you have any human money?"

Pearl cupped her hands around the gemstone in her forehead. It glowed and a black leather wallet materialized from the light. She handed it to Dor. "Here you are. There are thirty-two ones, sixteen fives, twenty-three tens, and five twenties. That's four-hundred-forty-two United States dollars. I'm sure that will be enough for breakfast. I understand the humans of this city enjoy an establishment called The Big Donut." Her expression was sympathetic.

Dor took the wallet. It seemed like an overwhelming amount of money to give to a stranger, but perhaps money was different on this version of Earth. "Thank you."

"Rose, the others are ready. We really do need to be going," Pearl said.

"Right." Rose Quartz turned to Dor. "It was a pleasure meeting you. Thank you for sharing your story."

"Thank you for saving my existence."

Rose Quratz grinned. "It's what Crystal Gems do." She gestured at the hill with its mysterious cave. "On the other side is Beach City. If you go around that way, you'll find The Big Donut. They should be open soon. They'll sell you a delicious breakfast." She patted Dor's shoulder. "Good luck."

Rose Quartz and Pearl turned and went back up the hill. In the predawn light coming over the horizon of the ocean, Dor saw the side of the hill had been carved into the massive form of a multi-armed woman. The two warrior women met another pair at that strange door, they all stood on the crystalline pad and disappeared in a column of light.


	17. Beach City

Dorothy was free. The Infinite Library no longer pursued her. Mr. Quillon could no longer use her. Sister Mary Margaret would never spank her again. She had no obligation to return to St. Bridget's, and could wander the multiverse as she saw fit. She could do whatever she wanted.

A brisk wind came in off the ocean carrying a strong briny smell. Dor breathed deeply of it and suddenly decided what she really wanted, right this moment, was a bath. Despite her dunking in Rose Quartz' fountain, the fight with the book elemental had left her sweaty and smelling of ash.

Dor put the wallet and her wand in her bookbag and withdrew the laundry bag. When she unfolded it, she could feel the weight of the Hogwartian uniform clothes she'd packed within. It seemed forever ago now, but she knew it could have been no more than a couple hours at most since she'd left Hogwarts. She stripped off the beige clothes issued her by Mr. Quillon. She considered tossing them into the ocean, but she didn't have much, and to throw away anything seemed a waste, so she stuffed them into the laundry bag. She unbraided her hair and put the ribbons in the laundry bag also.

It had been winter at Hogwarts, quite nearly Christmas, but the air here held the sweet hint of spring. Dor took a moment to revel in the freedom of being nude on a beach, answerable to none. She flushed with it, at once embarrassed and thrilled. She stretched her arms above her head and took a slow breath. Her back popped. Her shoulders eased. Her vision fuzzed. The wind brushed her bare skin with cool fingers that made her shiver all over. She curled her toes in the sand and goosebumps shivered up her legs to her loins to her breasts, pulling a gasp from her and pebbleing her nipples.

With a delighted shout, she rushed into the gently lapping ocean.

The water was cold, but she pushed in up to her waist and hunched so she was in up to her shoulders. After a while, her body got used to the temperature of the water and she took a deep breath before ducking her head underneath. Though it stung a bit, she opened her eyes and looked at the sandy beach sloping away into darkness. She pulled her knees to her chest and floated just above the sand, letting the back and forth, back and forth of the ocean rock her, the dull roar of the water fill her ears, her thoughts. When her chest began to protest, Dor pushed for the surface and broke with a gasp. The great expanse of the grey-blue ocean reached for a fuzzy horizon, growing brighter by the moment, glints of dawn on the rippling surface.

Looking back to shore, Dor realized she was further than she'd thought. She nearly panicked, knowing she'd never been taught to swim, but instead she reached for the playing cards in her mind and plucked at Kya's Waterbending, proud of herself for acting logically rather than fearfully.

In the ocean, the waterbending stance came to her easily and she pulled the briny water about herself, letting it lift and propel her to shore. She stepped upon the sandy beach and pushed the water back, shaking as much from herself as she could.

Feeling clean and refreshed, Dor walked back to where she'd left her bag and got dressed in clothes from Hogwarts: black drawers with yellow trim, tan brassier, white button-up shirt, black skirt. The clothes stuck to her damp skin, but she didn't care. It was warm enough she decided to forego the grey vest with black and yellow Hufflepuff markings. She also decided not to wear the stockings or shoes, relishing the feeling wet sand on her bare feet.

Making sure her wand, wallet, and laundry bag were secure, she settled her bookbag on her shoulder and made her way around the hill carved in the shape of a giant, multi-armed goddess.

The other side of the hill was a grassy slope, and at the end of the slope was a small building with a pink and blue awning. A large sign in the shape of a doughnut was perched upon the building's roof. The front of the building was all glass and glowed from within with electrical lighting. The city beyond the store filled the little valley. It wasn't as large as Republic City or as futuristic as New York City, but it was still larger and more advanced than the town outside St. Bridget's Orphanage.

Dor forced herself not to shrink back, not to turn away. She walked with all the confidence she could muster to the little shop that smelled of sweet bread. She was stymied for a moment with the wall of windows, but after a moment realized one of them was a glass door. She pulled it open to the chiming of a small bell.

The bright electric light of the room shone off every surface. It all looked shiny and new and just a bit washed out by the light. The room smelled of baking and sweetness and just a hint of the kind of harsh cleaners Dor associated with the laundry back at St. Bridget's.

The walls of the room were filled with glass cases filled with items, presumably doughnuts, or doughnut-adjacent. The far end of the room was dominated by a glass case filled with shelf upon shelf of donoughts. Dor had been introduced to doughnuts at Hogwarts. They'd always been warm and fresh, while these looked like they'd been sitting out awhile. Nonetheless, it was a wealth of food.

Dor stared around the room in awe.

"Um... can I help you?"

A bored-looking young man wearing a purple shirt, his hair unnaturally black, a silver earring dangling from one lobe, gave her a heavy-lidded look.

"Oh." Dor swallowed her fear and approached. "I would like a doughnut, please."

"Sure, what kind?"

Dor looked at the case of doughnuts. Most were in varying shades of brown, like she'd expected, but some had a slick glaze covering, some had a thick brown frosting, and one row had a bright purple frosting, like nothing she'd seen before. She felt her eyes go wide and pointed it out.

The young man put a purple frosted doughnut into a bag and dropped it on the counter. He tapped at a machine and it made a sort of whirring noise.

"That'll be one dollar."

Dor fished out her new wallet. She knew vaguely how money worked but was unfamiliar with these crisp, green slips. She flipped through the wallet and found they were ordered numerically. She selected one with a large number 1 on it and shyly handed it over.

"Thank you, have a nice day," said the young man with little to no affect.

"Um, and you as well," said Dor.

She left the building and found a wooden boardwalk with the beach on one side and storefronts on the other. The other storefronts were dark, but a few people were about. No one paid her any mind, so Dor walked down to a wooden bench that faced the ocean. She sat, opened her bag and withdrew the doughnut.

It was thick, but chewy, and extraordinarily sweet. She especially liked the frosting which was smooth and vaguely berry tasting. It reminded her of the poptart Jubilee had shared with her more than the doughnuts at Hogwarts. Thinking of the girl, Dor found she was excited to see her again. She hoped Jubilee would be happy to see her too. Dor finished the pastry quickly and licked the frosting from her fingers. She was just thinking of going back for another, when someone sat on the bench next to her.

Dor put her hand in her bookbag, grasping the wand. She bit her tongue on a yelp and was proud of herself.

"It's all right, I'm not going to hurt you," said the woman.

Dor looked at her. She was tall and pale, but not as pale as Pearl. She had blonde hair and a stern look. She was dressed in a black suit that looked formal to Dor's eyes. The woman kept her gaze on the ocean. Dor leaned back and looked out at the water. She kept her hand on her wand and waited for the woman to continue.

"My name is Ava Sharpe. I'm with the Time Bureau in the reality most-commonly known as Earth-1."

Dor's ears perked, her shoulder's tensed, and her hand twitched. In the room in her mind, her grimoire opened.

"I'm here because the director got an alert about a mindcage escapee. The Time Bureau doesn't traffic in mindcages, but the Time Masters did. Apparently a man named Silas Quillon committed several chronological crimes."

"I wouldn't know about that," said Dor. She believed this woman, Ms. Sharpe. She had a rigidity about her that suggested truth. Even so, she didn't trust her. The sisters of St. Bridget's had a similar rigidity.

"A mind cage is designed to be a benign incarceration, taking on a nature suitable to the inmate. I'm in Silas Quillon's case, that was a library with the information to trap others and pursue his own freedom."

"Seems counterproductive."

Ms. Sharpe snorted. "For a variety of reasons, the mindcages of the Time Masters are regarded as a mistake by the Time Bureau."

Dor pursed her lips but said nothing. She watched the ocean. Behind her, on the boardwalk, the people of Beach City went about their business.

Ms. Sharpe took a breath. "According to the multiversal ripples I've been studying, Silas Quillon was continuing to engage in criminal activity from his mindcage. I was able to extract four of his prisoners, girls from whom he'd stolen some form of interplanar magic. But you seemed to have escaped on your own."

Dor shrugged. "Kind of."

Ms. Sharpe sighed. "Young lady, I truly mean you no harm, but I understand if you don't believe me. That said, traveling to this dimension, a dimension not parallel to my own, requires a tremendous amount of energy. I haven't whatever spark of magic it is you have. All I need to know is if you're the fifth girl."

Dor took her hand out of her bookbag and neatly folded the wax paper bag her doughnut had come in.

"My name is Dorothy Alice Wendy. Mr. Quillon wanted me to help him retrieve a version of Roweena Ravenclaw's diadem. With help, I tricked him into stealing the actual diadem from the Prime Wizarding World universe. The resulting paradox destroyed him." She snuck a glance at Ms. Sharpe, feeling her cheeks growing warm at the boldness of her tone.

Ms. Sharpe looked at her, expression nonplussed. "I... see."

"I didn't want to." Dor said. "I..." she sighed. "He was awful. He sent Elmira after me. He..."

"The Time Bureau has no affiliation with Mr. Quillon and from what I've heard he was a real son of a bitch. You will face no repercussions from us for defending yourself Ms..."

Dor cleared her throat. "I don't have a last name. They never gave me one at the orphanage. I've been thinking about just picking one for myself."

Ms. Sharpe nodded and gave a small smile. Dor decided this woman was far better than the sisters of St. Bridget's. "Well I'm sorry to say my time is up. I'd like to have gotten to know you a bit better. If you ever find yourself needing help in my neck of the multiverse, you only have to ask." She stood and pushed back her sleeve to reveal a wrist mounted device. She tapped at it and a frizzy white portal opened on a futuristic looking interior. Ms. Sharpe gave Dor another nod, went through the portal, and was gone.

Dor went back to The Big Donut. She bought another doughnut, this one with chocolate icing, then a cup of coffee, but she had to ask the bored young man behind the counter to show her how the coffee machine worked. He rolled his eyes at her but helped. As Beach City woke, Dor wandered up and down the boardwalk, wandering through the shops but declining to buy anything as she was worried about spending too much money.

Funland Arcade was a brilliant cacophony of stimuli, from flashing lights to chipper melodies to stale food. After several minutes' wandering, she realized each cabinet mounted with a lighted screen was a kind of game. She thought she might like to try one, but observation told her they required coins and all she had was the bits of paper money.

She wandered from the arcade in a kind of daze.

When she got hungry again, she went back and bought _another_ two doughnuts.

All in all, it was a good day.

* * *

The hill between Beach city and Rose Quartz' mysterious little cave was a smooth grassy slope on the city side. Dor climbed to the top where stood an old lighthouse. The top of the goddess carving was on level with the top of the hill so with a bit of a jump, Dor found herself standing on the carven goddess' head.

Dor sat crosslegged, tucking her skirt under her backside.

The view of the ocean was breathtaking, sparkling sapphire blue to a thin robins'-egg horizon. Dor sat for several minutes, staring. The gentle back and forth of the water, the faint hint of brine, easy rhythmic rush...

Dor closed her eyes and went to the room in her mind.

She decided she would visit Minwu first. When she'd seen the white Mage through the mental library, she'd been noticeably pregnant. Dor worried if she waited to long, Minwu would give birth and wouldn't have time for visitors.

In the room in her mind, Dor's grimoire stood open showing the nine-pocket page. She went to close it, but the page turned to reveal a tenth card. This one was gold bordered and showed Rainbow Quartz limbed in pastel light. It was bright and felt heavy, even just looking at it.

* * *

 **Gems' Fusion URW**

 **Tribal Sorcery – Gem**

Exile two target creatures you control. If you do, create an X/Y creature token where X is the sum of the exiled creatures' power and Y the sum of their toughness. It has all colors, types, and rules text of the exiled creatures. When this token leaves the battlefield, return the exiled cards to the battlefield under their owner's control.

* * *

Dor blinked, stunned. Of course there were more pages in the book, but she'd thought there wouldn't be any more spells. Nine had seemed the perfect number. She put her finger on the smooth material of the nine-pocket page and the power of the spell danced through the material up her skin to make her shiver. Her cheeks warmed and her breath caught.

She drew her hand back, an unconscious smile playing about her expression. All her life she'd felt distant from others. Until this unexpected adventure, she'd never had any friends. But this playing card, this manifestation of magic, this was a metaphysical embodiment of a relationship, a friendship, and it was neatly catalogued here in her mind.

And there was more.

The smooth nine-pocket sleeves were translucent and Gem's Fusion only took up one pocket. Though they were fuzzy, Dor could see more cards on the other side of the second page. Curious, she turned the page.

Every pocket on this page was filled with a card, each depicting a specific item. The first that drew her attention was Excalibur. The title of the card stood boldly upon a silver title bar at the top of the card, and the rest was devoted to art depicting the famed blade of King Arthur. It was a long-handled great sword with a heavy crossguard. Long and straight, it tapered to a point at the end. It was smooth and polished and gleaming upon its bed of samite. Just as she'd seen it in Mr. Quillin's display room.

Dor withdrew the card. It had a heft and depth to it, much as the spell cards did, but a different flavor. She knew this was not a spell she could cast. Rather, each of these cards was an item of some power or significance Mr. Quillon has stolen. And now, with the collapse of the Infinite Library, they were in her grimoire. They'd become her responsibility. And with the multiverse open to her, she could return them.

But first, she would see her friends.

* * *

Dor's adventures continue in Book 2:

 **Planequest**


End file.
